K. L. Saigal

K.L. Saigal
Background information
Birth name	Kundanlal Saigal
Born	(1904-04-11)11 April 1904 Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, British India (present-day Jammu and Kashmir, India)
Died	18 January 1947(1947-01-18) (aged 42) Jalandhar, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, India)
Genres	Playback singing
Occupation(s)	Playback singer, Actor
Years active	1932–1947

Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who worked in Hindi cinema, which was centred in Calcutta (Kolkata) during Saigal's time, but is currently based in Bombay (Mumbai).^[1][2] Saigal's unique voice quality which was a mixture of baritone and soft tenor was the benchmark for most of the singers who followed him. In fact it remains the gold standard even today shining through very early and practically primitive recording technology. He did not sing songs on which other actors would lip-sync for the camera. It was only towards the very last stages of his career, during 1945 to 1947, that he sang to make studio recordings, and these were for himself as the actor on the screen. Thus, while other singers in Hindi Cinema are playback singers, he was not a playback singer.