Sonu Nigam is an Indian singer artist who was born on 30 July 1973 in Faridabad, Haryana, India. He is 43 year old as of year 2023.

Sonu Nigam is a leading Indian Singer who rose to acclaim through playback singing in Bollywood and other regional films. Gifted with an extraordinarily melodious voice and amazingly versatile talent, Sonu Nigam may well be called one of the best singers of recent times.

Family

His father’s name is Agam Kumar Nigam who is from Agra and is also a Bollywood singer, while His mother’s name is Shobha Nigam who is from Garhwal. He has two younger sisters named Teesha Nigamc(Neekita Nigam) and Meenal Nigam.

Education

He did his schooling from J.D. Tytler School in Delhi and pursued his graduation from Delhi University. Later he moved to Mumbai in 1990 aspiring to be a playback singer.

Musical Education

Sonu’s father, Agam Kumar Nigam used to perform in stage shows. Little Sonu used to accompany his father to his shows and his interest in music grew from there. When he was four years old, he threw a tantrum in one of the shows saying that he wanted to sing.

He sang the superhit song of Mohammad Rafi “Kya Hua Tera Wada” from the movie “Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi”. That was the beginning of what has turned out to be one great musical journey.

Sonu got his first break for playback singing in a movie Janam in 1990 but unfortunately the movie wasn’t released. He put a lot of faith in the contract from T-series but was upset when his songs were rejected in favor of S.P. Balasubramaniam.

Impressed by his talent, T- series owner, Gulshan Kumar offered him a singing contract for his upcoming project ‘Bewafa Sanam‘. The song ‘Accha Sila Diya Tune‘ became a huge hit and people started sitting up and take notice of this talented singer.

He released his first album “Rafi Ki Yaadein” in 1992. His first hit song was “Accha Sila Diya” from the movie Bewafa Sanam(1995).

He debuted as a music director in the “Singh Saab The Great” in 2013. Apart from that, he has also tried his hands in acting. His debut as an actor was at the age of 10 when he played the role of young Sunny Deol.

Singing and Composing Work

He has recorded Romantic , Rock , Devotional, Ghazal and Patriotic songs. He has sung song in many different languages in Hindi, Odia, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Maithili, bhojpuri, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Tamil and Telugu till date.

Nigam has released pop albums in Hindi, Kannada, Odia, Chattisgarhi and Punjabi, as well as Hindu and Islamic devotional albums. He has released several Buddhist albums. Nigam has performed in countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

In May-June 2007, he participated in the Incredible tour with Asha Bhosle, Kunal Ganjawala, and Kailash Kher. From September- October of the same year, he gave solo concerts titled Simply Sonu in Canada and Germany, becoming the first Indian singer to do so.

In April 2008, he toured India promoting his Punjabi single “Punjabi Please”.

Achivement

Till date, Sonu Nigam has had 29 nominations of in which he has won 15. He has bagged prestigious awards like Film Fare, Zee Cine Awards and National Film Awards. He won maximum number of awards for Best Playback Singer Male for the title track of film ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.

He got Padma Shri Award in 2022, Best Male playback singer for the song ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.

IIFA Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song ‘Abhi Mujhme Kahin‘.

Controversy

He faced huge backlash from the Bollywood music industry for being vocal about issues like Singer’s Right and Copyright Act. Rumors of problems in marriage had surfaced in the media, although Sonu and his wife denied such allegations and are going strong.

Sonu Nigam sparked a controversy in 2017 after he tweeted about feeling disturbed by “Azaan” that was being played in loudspeakers and disturb his sleep. He even called it ‘forced religiousness’. His tweet hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community.

A fatwa was issued by a cleric that whoever shaves Sonu’s head and puts a garland of the shoe around his neck will be given the reward of Rs. 10 lakhs. He responded by shaving off his head demanding the money from the cleric.

It was the time of the release of the movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil(2016) where Anushka Sharma utters a dialogue “Mohammed Rafi? Woh gaate kam rote zyada the na?” that arose backlash from the Rafi’s fans.

Sonu Nigam was amongest them who also lashed out at filmmaker Karan Johar. Karan Johar responded back with an equally sarcastic note leading to a drift of opinions between the two.

According the online resources the estimated net worth of Sonu Nigam is $51 Million as of year 2023, which is equivalent to Rs 416 Crore in Indian Rupees.

He is a legendary playback singer and a music director of Indian Nationality. He has been considered one of the most popular and successful singers in Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema.