My Favorite Singer Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam was born on July 30 in Faridabad and his first trainer was his father Agam Kumar Nigam. The family moved from the satellite town to the main city in New Delhi, where Sonu spent a large part of his childhood. In Delhi, his Ustad was Mohammad Tahir, but he was unable to continue this training for long as he left Delhi soon after. Some training here and there was enough for people to recognize him, but it was his personal effort and hard work that got him to where he is at present.

The first time he got on stage was when he was three years old. He accompanied his father in singing the hindi song Kya Hua Tera Vaada, which was originally sung by the legendary Mohammed Rafi. Sonu admits that Rafi has had a great influence on his own style of singing and that his first song on stage was an original of his idol, may not be entirely co-incidental. Sonu's father never got involved in music professionally, though he did provide all his support for the same cause to his son.

Sonu moved to Mumbai when he was 18 years old and from there he started a distance learning graduate programme. There were some restrictions as to what he could do in Mumbai. In Delhi, Sonu used to sing in parties and ceremonies with his father, but he was advised against this when he got to Mumbai. Sonu started accepting some roles in movies to support himself. He wasn't totally unexperienced in this field too as he has acted in films like Kaamchor, Ustadi Ustad Se, Hum Se Hai Zamana, Taqdeer and Betaab as a child.

The first film that Sonu recorded for was Aaja Meri jaan. He recorded five tracks, but only one was taken in. However, that was the spark and Gulshan Kumar noticed the hidden talent. Sonu tied up with T-Series. The number that got him really famous was Achha Sila Diya Tune Mere Pyaar Ka, which featured in the film Bewafa Sanam.

After suitably establishing himself, song offers were no more a problem and Sonu also ventured out to do independent pop music. He did the pop albums Sapnon Ki Baat and Deewana with T-Series, but moved on to Magnasound to produce Kismat and Mausam. Sonu got back with T-Series to follow up his prevous work with Yaad. He is now as actively involved with his independent pop music as with his mainstream film music and has also got himself on the small screen by hosting the show TVS Sa Re Ga Ma.!