Jagjit Singh born on February 8, 1941 is a famous ghazal singer from India. During 1970s, in India, the art of ghazal singing was dominated by well-established names like Noor Jehan, Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar,Talat Mahmood and Mehdi Hassan. But the perceptions changed soon In 1976, his album The Unforgettables hit the music stores. Skeptics had their own reservations, purists scorned it but it was widely successful among listeners and the album set new sales records.

His guru in his younger days was Pandit Chaganlal Sharma. He learnt Khayal, Thumri and Dhrupad forms of classical music of India from Ustad Jamaal Khan. He married the popular singer Chitra Singh in 1969.

He went to Mumbai in 1965 and searched for better opportunities. He never had a god-father and hence it was an uphill task to survive in Mumbai. Like any other struggler, he too had his share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and accepted every singing assignment that came his way - be it jingles for ad films or performing at weddings and parties.

He is the pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. He has sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003. Widely credited for the revival and popularity of Ghazal , an Indian classical art form, by simplifying the complex form of Ghazals in to a more simpler form of Ghazals by amalgamating Ghazal and Geet.

In 1967 he met Chitra, also a singer, while doing jingles. After a two-year-long courtship they got married in 1969. They epitomize the first successful husband-wife singing team. Jagjit Singh, with Chitra, has contributed immensely towards changing the course of this genre of music known as 'Ghazal' making it more ear friendly, melodic and enojoyable by a wider audience.

Jagjit Singh & his wife, Chitra Singh experienced dark personal tragedies. Their only son, Vivek, died in a car crash in the early 90s; his stepdaughter from Chitra Singh’s first marriage, Monica, who was a tarot card reader, committed suicide in 2009. Jagjit Singh’s personal tragedies gave his atmospheric, depressive soul-searching ghazals an emotional edge. Their subsequent album 'Someone Somewhere' was the last album with ghazals sung by both. After that Chitra Singh quit singing. Jagjit Singh's later albums, including Hope, In Search, Insight, Mirage, Visions, Kahkashan (meaning "Galaxy"), Love Is Blind, Chirag (meaning "Lamp"/"Flame") also achieved success.

His later albums named Hope, In Search, Insight, Mirage, Visions, Kahkashan (Galaxy), Love Is Blind, Chirag (Lamp), etc. have made him the top Ghazal singer in the country and a favorite among fans. An album with Lata Mangeshkar named Sajda (Offering) was a hit and sold innumerable copies. It was a classic Ghazal album. Jagjit Singh did not limit himself to just Hindi songs and has also sung many Punjabi songs.

His compositions for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib (based on the life of the poet Mirza Ghalib), remain extremely popular among ghazal aficionados. The elusive element of Ghalib’s poetry was sensitively and wonderfully brought out in the soulful compositions of Ghalib’s ghazals by Jagjit Singh. The album could veritably be called a magnum opus.

His music direction can be seen to be pioneering in changing the sound layout by adding more Western instruments while mostly retaining the traditional orchestra which includes a tablaa, dholak, bongos, sitar, sarod, santoor, flute, and harmonium, and a couple of string instruments. Jagjit Singh is also nicknamed Gazaljit Singh. In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours.

on September 23 after suffering from a brain hemorrhage he had been admitted to Lilavati Hospital, in Mumbai, The voice that defined a pan-Indian melancholy muted forever. Jagjit Singh passes away on 10-oct-2011.