Kamla Jharia‘s real name was Kamla Singh. She lived in the palace of the Maharaja
of Jharia (a town in Dhanbad district, coal capital of India). Her
parents probably worked in the palace in some capacity. K Mallick, who
at the time was a very popular gramophone singer, was invited to the
palace to sing at the court of Maharaja Shiv Prasad on the occasion of his marriage. The Maharaja
was so pleased with his performance that he appointed him court singer
in Jharia. It was here that K Mallick discovered Kamla’s musical talent
and brought her to Calcutta and introduced her to HMV authorities.
Kamla Jharia sang in Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Marathi,
Punjabi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages. At that time no other
artist would sing in so many different languages which explains her all
India status and popularity. Her singing career spanned over three
decades. In 1976, The Gramophone Company of India honoured her with a
Gold Disc, as a mark of lifetime achievement. In 1977, during the
celebration of the golden jubilee of All India Radio, she was
felicitated as one of the living legends who had taken part right from
the beginning of All India Radio. Kamla Jharia suffered from chronic
asthma for long and passed away on 20th December, 1979.
