P. Leela
| P. Leela | |
|---|---|
P. Leela in late 1940s
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| Background information | |
| Native name | പി. ലീല |
| Birth name | Porayathu Leela |
| Born |
19 May 1934 Chittur, Palakkad, British India |
| Died | 31 October 2005 (aged 71) Chennai, India |
| Genres | Indian classical music and playback singing |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1949–2005 |
Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005), popularly known as P Leela, was an Indian playback singer.
P Leela was born in 1934, in Chittur, Palakkad, Kerala to V.K. Kunjanmenon and Porayath Meenakshi Amma. She was the youngest of the three daughters – Sharadha, Bhanumathi and Leela. V K Kunjanmenon was working as a teacher in Ramavarma Higher Secondary School at Ernakulam. V.K.Menon was passionate about music "We were three girls in our family and I was the youngest. My father wanted us to learn Carnatic music and all three of us used to sing well, My father was solely responsible for making me a singer." said Leela.
Starting at the age of 13, she has sung about 5000 film songs in all the South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. She also sang for a Bengali film and in Sinhala movies. Her songs are known for their emotional touch and classical discipline. She made a name for herself by singing in her mellifluous voice both for the film industry and in Carnatic Music. She considered it an honor to have sung in the same period as M S Subbulakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari and D K Pattammal – three giants of Carnatic Music. She has worked under all great music directors and has sung with all the major singers of the South Indian film industry.
Leela had a gifted voice. Thiribuvana Manibhagavadhar, the uncle of musician T. V. Gopalakrishnan was her first guru. Later she learnt from Paththamadai Krishna Ayyar, Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer and Rama Bhagavathar. Leela was trained in Carnatic music by doyens such as Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and V. Dakshinamoorthy. Vadakkancheri Ramabhagavadhar was a close friend of Menon. He had settled down in Madras. He would invite Menon and Leela to Madras to learn music whenever he visited Ernakulam. The headmistress of the school where Leela was studying advised her father to take her to Madras for further training in music.
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