Sukhwinder Singh is a much celebrated highly acclaimed Bollywood singer hailing from Ludhiana, Punjab, India. Amongst his first successes was famous song ilu-ilu from film Saudagar by Subhash Ghai. His greatest success is inarguably the song Chaiyya Chaiyya for Mani Ratnam's 1998 film Dil Se, composed by A. R. Rahman, for which he won the 'Best Male Playback' award at the 1999 Filmfare Awards in India (the same song was used in Spike Lee's film Inside Man). His popularity increased even more after he sung Chak De India-an Indian patriotic song in the Hindi film Chak De India. Recently he also performed in the Indian Idol Grand Finale. After the release of the Indian blockbuster, Om Shanti Om, in November 2007, his portfolio of successes got enriched by Dard-E-Disco. The song, famous even before its release due to the performance of Shah Rukh Khan with his six pack abs, turned out to be the unquestionable powerplay of the Diwali season in Asia.
Sukhwinder Singh is a leading Bollywood singer. He first performed on stage at the age of 7 or 8, singing the Lata number "Sa re ga ma pa, pa, pa, ga ma re, ga re mere sang mere saajna." He also released a Punjabi album called Munda Southhall Da with T. Singh joined Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s troupe and quickly became a music arranger, before heading to the south of India to look for work. At this time he did a film called Rakshagan.
Singh got his break in a Madhuri Dixit film called Khilaaf, in which he sang the hit song "Aa ja sanam". But the singer himself realised that something was missing in his voice. He left his dream city to tour England and America to see, hear and understand the various forms of music. After this broadening of his musical horizons, he returned to Mumbai to kick-start his musical career.
His first effort in Hindi films, Aaja Sanam, went largely unremarked, even though the music carried the names of Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Then, along came Dil Se. A. R. Rahman, always interested in something new, used Sukhwinder for "Chaiyya Chaiyya". Sukhwinder is now highly regarded as a sensitive and eloquent singer. The other films that followed - including Taal, Biwi No. 1, 1947 Earth, Daag, Dillagi, Moksha, and Thakshak,"Tere Naam", Apna Sapna Money Money, Shadi Se Pehle , Shabd, Musafir, Chak de India, Om Shanti Om, Black & White- have made him a household name. Sukhwinder owes a large part of his success to Rahman's encouragement, and makes no effort to gloss over that fact.
Sukhwinder has strong opinions about writing music - he once stated that if he was ever involved in writing music for film, he would delve deep into the Indian musical landscape and not simply conjure up some digital tricks with pop and fusion.Rahman and Sukhwinder are presently working closely together. The duo have decided to make music that is not tailor-made for films, but rather to venture into realms where they can truly express themselves.
*source:Wikipedia