Kailash Kher - The most earth voice....

Kailash Kher – A voice that is raw, earthiest and may be the closest to any pure form of soul. ‘Allah Ke Bande’ is one of his best renditions that topped the charts back in 2003. Composed by Vishal-Shekhar, it is a beautiful devotional musical piece from ‘Waisa Bhi Hota Hai’ that would touch the hearts of many.

Kailash Kher was born on 7th of July 1973 in Meerut of Uttar Pradesh. His father Pandit Maher Singh Kher was a traditional folk singer from whom Kailash learnt his initial music. At an young age of 14, he abandoned the comforts of home and came down to Delhi in search of a competent ‘guru’ in order to learn music. After a brief association with almost 15 ‘gurus’, he decided to leave for Mumbai.

He did learn and teach music to young students at the same time to earn his livelihood. He was greatly inspired by the classical maestros like Pandit Bhimshen Joshi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pandit Gokulotsav Maharaj, whom he listened to very frequently in order to learn from their renditions.

He started off soon with a saree export business with one of his friends. After a brief success followed by an unfortunate failure in 1999, he gave up business and again decided to give a chance to his music. He then came back to Delhi to complete his graduation only to return back to Mumbai in 2001.

During his early struggling days, Kailash Kher spent his nights at the Andheri railway station and took up petty musical works that came in his way.

Soon he was introduced by a common friend to Ram Sampat, who gave him a chance to sing a jingle for a television commercial. Later, he went on to sing more jingles for commercials of Coca Cola, Honda Motor Cycles, Pepsi and many more. 

He got an opportunity to playback for Nadeem-Shravan for the film ‘Andaaz’ in 2003. ‘Rabba Ishq Na Hove’ with Alka Yagnik brought him under spotlight. The same year with the release of ‘Allah Ke Bande’, he reached the height of fame and popularity overnight.

The fervor of ‘Allah Ke Bande’ enchanted A. R. Rahman to the extent that he made Kailash Kher sing for him in ‘Swades’ in 2004. ‘Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi’ from ‘Swades’ was sung by Kailash Kher along with Udit Narayan and Hariharan. His first music director Ram Sampath called him during the same year to render the song ‘Mere Maula’ along with Richa Sharma for Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Khakee’.

His high pitched and raw voice was used extensively by Aadesh Shrivastav for ‘Rang Deeni’ from ‘Dev’. He rendered the song beautifully along with Mahua Kamat and Shraddha Pandit  and the song went on to become a huge hit of 2004.

In 2005, A. R Rahman again roped him in to sing the title track ‘Mangal Mangal’ for Ketan Mehta’s Aamir Khan starring ‘Mangal Pandey’. Jatin-Lalit used his voice along with Shaan in the song ‘Chaand Sifaarish’ from ‘Fanaa’. The lines ‘Subhan Allah…Subhan Allah’ in between the song were rendered by Kailash Kher. Anu Malik too offered him with ‘Toot Gaya’ from the Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumat starring ‘Waqt’.

He also worked with Pritam in ‘Chocolate’ in 2005 and sang the song ‘Jhuki Jhuki’ along with Sunidhi Chauhan.

– ‘Yeh Duniya Oot Patanga, Kite Hath Te Kite Tanga, Ate Kukdi Dindi Baanga, Ede Chakde Phatte’, a solo number of Kailash Kher from ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’. The song went on to become a super hit at the charts in 2006. The peppy track by Kailash Kher would stupefy anyone. It is composed and sung with a mix of Hindi and Punjabi flavour and is a stupendous piece by Kailash Kher.

‘O Sikander’ from ‘Corporate’ in 2006 and ‘Ya Rabba’ from ‘Salaam-E-Ishq’ in 2007 were also huge hits at the charts. Both the songs are different in terms of genres and became very popular among the masses.

A Lyricist and Composer:

‘Ankhiyan Teriya Ve’ from Karan Johar’s ‘Kaal’ was penned by Kailash Kher. He not only sang the song but also holds the credit for the lyrics. He also went on to write lyrics for ‘Chandni Chowk To China’, ‘Dasvidaniyaan’ and ‘Traffic Signal’. He rendered the songs ‘Dilruba’ and ‘Albela Saajna’ from ‘Traffic Signal’ too.
He also composed the songs of the super hit movie ‘Dasvidaniyaan’. ‘Alvida’ and ‘Mumma’ from ‘Dasvidaniyaan’ were rendered by Kailash Kher while he made Sonu Nigam render the song ‘Muskura’ in the movie. In ‘Chandni Chowk To China’, he composed the songs ‘Chak Lein De’ and ‘S.I.D.H.U’ along with Paresh and Naresh and rendered for the same.

Albums:

Kailash Kher also holds credit for four major successful albums through the years. His first album ‘Kailasa’ was released in 2006. The famous song ‘Teri Deewani’ from ‘Kailasa’ was a massive hit and the album went on to become one of the best selling albums of the year. The name ‘Kailasa’ was inspired from the name of the band that Kailash Kher earlier found with his two friends Paresh and Naresh in Delhi.

His second album ‘Jhoomo Re’ in 2007 was also another successful album from his kit. ‘Saiyyan’, ‘Babam Bum’, Chhap Tilak’ are the songs that became immensely popular among the audiences.

His third album ‘Chaandan Mein’ in 2009 and fourth alum ‘Rangeele’ in 2012 were equally successful and they all became chart toppers during their respective years.

His versatile voice makes him different from the rest of the singers. Today, he is one of those singers in Bollywood who refines the folk genre of music and instills a natural earthy feel among the music lovers.