K. J. Yesudas

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and is the most famous cultural and entertainment industry icon of Kerala from the modern era. In a career spanning six decades, Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian. He is referred to by the epithet Gaanagandharvan in reverence for his sweet, ethereal voice. Yesudas holds the world record for singing and recording 16 new songs in different languages in a single day. He also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.