South Indian Female Singers

South Indian music is notable for producing some amazing songs, but what also makes them great is their singers. It is a skill and blessing for these vocalists to be able to sing in almost all the South Indian languages, and there have been some fabulous performers who have given the gift of their voice to music aficionados. 

Here are some of the most illustrious daughters of South India who have catapulted music into the highest realms:

K. S. Chithra

With over 30,000 songs in a career spanning more than four decades, Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is a darling of music lovers in South India. Her oeuvre includes Indian classical, devotional, and film songs. She is the first Indian woman to be honoured by the British Parliament, and also the only South Indian female singer to perform in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Shreya Ghoshal

Shreya Ghoshal is a very popular Indian female singer. She started learning music at the age of four years and at the age of six years she started classical music training. She started her career in 1998 and now she is one of the highest paid playback singers in Bollywood. Shreya was born on 12th March 1984 in Murshidabad, West Bengal. She has won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa reality singing show. She is also one of the richest singers in Bollywood with a net worth of 25 million US dollars. Shreya specialised in Vocals and received many awards, worked with many record studios like Sagar Music Times Music Saregama Asha Audio.

S Janaki

Hailing from the state of Andhra Pradesh, Sistla Shreeramamurthy Janaki is the grand lady of playback singing in South Indian films. Janaki has recorded 48,000 songs throughout her 60-year-long career, using 17 languages including South Indian, Northern Indian, and even foreign languages such as Arabic, German, and Japanese.

Vani Jayaram

Vani Jairam, also credited as Vani Jayaram, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in South Indian cinema. She has done playback for over thousand Indian movies recording over 20,000 songs. In addition, she has recorded thousands of devotionals and private albums and also participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad. Renowned for her vocal range and easy adaptability to any difficult composition, Vani has often been the choice for several composers across India through the 1970s until the late 1990s. She has sung in several Indian languages, such as Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia,Gujarati, Haryanvi, Assamese, and Bengali languages. Vani won the National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer three times and also has won State Government awards from the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Harini

Harini is an Indian film playback singer and classical singer who sings in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films, working with many leading film composers. She is married to another playback singer, Tippu. Harini learnt Carnatic music from Gowri and Radha Viswanathan from the age of four. In her later years, she learned from Sudha Raghunathan and currently from Suguna Purushotthaman. Her first song, "Nila Kaigirathu", was recorded at the age of 15.[4] Since then, she has received offers from various music directors across South India. Within a career spanning a decade, she sang over 3500 film songs and several album songs, most of them in Tamil. 

LR Eswari

Lourde-Mary Rajeswari "Eswari", known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Tulu, and English.[1] She was awarded with the Kalaimamani, the highest creative award in Tamil Nadu, for her contributions to the film industry. She made her everlasting impression in Telugu film industry with her husky and peppy numbers. Till date most of her songs are very popular among the Telugu audience. Her notable hits include "Masaka Masaka Cheekatilo" from Devudu Chesina Manushulu, "Maayadari Sinnodu" from Ammamaata, "Bhale Bhale Magadivo" from Marocharitra, "Arey Yemiti Lokam" from Anthulenikatha, "Le Le Le Naa Raaja" from Premnagar, "Malle Puvvulu Pillagaalulu" and "Theesko Coca Cola Esko Rammusoda" etc.

Sujatha

Sujatha Mohan is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She has also sung for Kannada, Badaga, Hindi and Marathi movies. In a career spanning 46 years, she has recorded more than 10,000 songs till date. Sujatha has received several awards and recognitions for her work in the South Indian film musical world.She has been awarded the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Indian state Tamil Nadu in 2021.

P Suseela

Pulapaka Susheela, popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film songs across South Indian languages.

Saindhavi

Saindhavi is a Carnatic music vocalist and an Indian film playback singer. She got the interest in music through hearing live bhajan performances with her parent's at the age of 5 and started learning it professionally by the age of 10. Her strength in Carnatic Music helped her in performing in various temples and traditional venues. She has her expertise in Carnatic classical and Film Music. She has sung title songs for the TV series Idhu oru kaadhal kadhai, Edhir neechal, Chellamay Chellam and Magalir Mattum. She is also one of the lead vocalists in the popular series of albums Sacred Chants by Kosmic Music. Her devotional album on Lord Krishna titled "Alilayil Urangukinra Mayakkannane '' was released in 2012 by Gaananjali Recordings.