Obituary: Legendary singer Manna Dey passed away due to lung infection in Bangalore

Legendary singer Manna Dey passed away at Narayana Hrudayalaya due to lung infection in Bangalore on Thursday. He was 94 years old.
A spokesman of Narayana Hrudayalaya KS Vasuki informed that Manna Dey, who was undergoing treatment for the last 4 months demised around 4 am.
Dey was admitted to the hospital with chest infection on Wednesday. In fact, he was survived by his daughters Sumita and Suroma. Dey's wife Sulochana Kumaran had demised in 2012.
Dey was born as Probodh Chandra Dey in Kolkata in 1919. Later, he emerged to be affectionately known as Manna Dey when he debuted into playback singing. He was the son of Purna Chandra Dey and Mahamaya Dey.
Dey studied at Scottish Church Collegiate School and subsequently Scottish Church College. Then he did his post graduation from Vidyasagar College in Kolkata.
Interestingly, in his autobiography Memories Come Alive, he had mentioned that how football was his first passion and later he switched on to music under the influence of his guru KC Dey.
Undoubtedly, he belonged to the variety of India's musical greats like Muhammad Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar apart from Hemant Kumar, who played an immense role in carrying forward the classical as well as popular traditions of India's musical heritage.
Notably, Dey received Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2009 and the National Award twice. Very few people know that Dey commenced his career as a playback singer with the film Tamanna in 1943.
On the other side, he won his first National Award as a playback singer for the Bengali film Nishi Padma, which Bollywood remade as Amar Prem. In addition, he was awarded the Padmabhushan.
Remarkably, Dey sang 3,500 plus songs during a career that stretched for more than 6 decades. Apart from Hindi, Dey sang in Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam as well as Assamese films side by side enjoyed successful musical partnerships with the major singers of his era.
The legendary singer was trained in Hindustani classical music by 2 classical stalwarts- Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan and Ustad Aman Ali Khan.
Remarkably, the singer lent his voice to timeless hits like Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua (Shree 420 in 1955), Ae Meri Zohra Zabeen (Waqt in 1965) and Ek Chathur Naar (Padosan in 1968) and Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge (Sholay in 1975). He commenced his career in the Hindi film industry with Jago Aayee Usha, Panchi Boley Jago (Tamanna in 1943). Dey recorded his last number for the film Umar in 2006.
In addition, he assisted music composer Sachin Dev Burman for quite some time & during this period, he sang Upar Gagan Vishal for the film Mashal in 1950. No doubt, by 1952, he had established himself as one of the apex playback singers in the country.
It cannot be ignored that Dey's hallmark was his versatility. He was expert in singing complex classical-based numbers like qawalis, bhajans and ghazals. Besides, he was excellent in singing buoyant romantic songs, soft pathos-laden ones and light, fun driven numbers.
Rafi had once declared to the magazine reporters that they say they love to listen to his songs. But he himself listens to Manna Dey's songs.
Amitabh Bachchan tweeted-T 1200-Manna Dey RIP..!! Prayers & condolences to loved ones and family! Strange how we connect events of our life with his songs!
Pritish Nandy tweeted-Even when you know someone will soon go, when he actually does it breaks your heart. # Manna Dey RIP.