Sonu Nigam, Indian playback singer and actor
Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director, and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema. The recipient of several accolades, including a National Film Award, two Filmfare Awards and two Filmfare Awards South, he has been honoured by the Government of India with Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian honour for his contribution in the field of arts.
Nigam sings predominantly in Hindi and Kannada language films but has also sung in Odia, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, and other Indian languages. Nigam has also released a number of non-film albums and acted in some Hindi films. With over 5,000 released songs to date, he is known as the “Modern Rafi”, a title given to him after his musical idol Mohammad Rafi. He is also regarded as "The Lord Of Chords" and "The master of melody". In 2018, Nigam received a doctorate from Teerthanker Mahaveer University for his outstanding contribution in the field of music.