Sonu Nigam
Birth: 30 July
Birthplace: Faridabad
Profession: Playback Singer, Bollywood.
Family: Wife
Sonu Nigam was born on the 30th of July in Faridabad ,Haryana. The family soon moved to Delhi where the singer spent most of his formative years. His father Agam Kumar's passion for music was soon imbibed by Sonu in his early years and he soon began training under him.He studied only till the 12th standard in Delhi and coming to Mumbai he decided on a correspondence graduate program .
Life was not smooth for the aspiring singer. To support himself he started taking on bit roles in movies. Many people do not know this but Sonu Nigam acted as a child artiste in films like Kaamchor, Ustadi Ustad Se, Hum Se Hai Zamana, Taqdeer and Betaab. Along with his father he also started singing in birthdays and marriage ceremonies in Delhi.
Sonu’s father is Agam Kumar, a very popular stage singer in the provincial circuit. Young Sonu debuted on stage at the age of three, with a rousing rendition of ‘Kya Hua Tera Vada’ and began accompanying his father’s troupe at wedding parties and festivals. He began competing in music competitions. After bagging every possible singing competition at the junior level, there came a point when Sonu was not permitted to compete in not only his own category, but the senior categories as well! The organizers then had to resort to calling him as chief guest! He moved to Mumbai at the age of 18 but stopped giving stage performances here, as his father felt this would affect his future career.
Only three years old, while accompanying his father for a show, Sonu gave his first public performance in the town of Jind by singing the popular Mohd. Rafi song ‘Kya Hua Tera Vaada’ from Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.His father’s lack of ambition was what drove Sonu to tread on the path of success. Though Sonu’s father was talented, however he never had the will and the drive to make it big in the world of music. His self-pride too very often acted as a hindrance to his progress. All this motivated Sonu to achieve all the things that his father was deprived of and with dreams in his eyes he came to Mumbai in the hope of becoming a singer.
He recorded his first song for the film Aaja Meri Jaan courtesy Usha Khanna who introduced him to composer Amar Utpal. But he was clearly told by the composer that he would keep the song only if he found it good enough. However fate had something else in store for Sonu as the song got dubbed by SP Balasubramaniam. Sonu was left cursing his luck as two of his very good songs were being sung by another singer and his songs were not even being heard. He had sung five songs in the film out of which the first four were rejected but the fifth song was the one that that Gulshan Kumar heard and summoned him. The rest as they say is history. The song that really made Sonu Nigam famous was ‘Accha Sila Diya Tune Mere Pyar Ka’ for the film Bewafa Sanam.
