Veteran singer S Janaki, known as the Nightingale of South India, has died at the age of 88. Also known as Janaki Amma, she refused the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2013. Stating that she should be considered for the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, Janaki said the recognition was long overdue given her immense contribution to Indian music.
The late singer was the recipient of four National Film Awards and 33 different State Film Awards.
Family Background of S. Janaki
Janaki was born on 23 April 1938 in Pallapatla, Repalle Taluka located in Guntur in the Madras Presidency of British India (present-day Andhra Pradesh). Her father, Sistla Sriramamurthy, worked as an Ayurvedic doctor and teacher. She spent most of her childhood in Sircilla, where she first performed on stage at the age of nine. Although she learned the basics of music from a vidwan of Nadaswaram named Paidiswami, she never received any formal training in classical music.
In 1959, Janaki married V Ramprasad, who actively promoted her career and accompanied her to most of her recording sessions. He died in 1997 from cardiac arrest.
Although Telugu is Janaki’s native language, she is amazingly multilingual and is able to speak and write fluently in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
Singing career of S. Janaki
Janaki began her singing career at the age of 19 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu (1957) and recorded tracks in six different languages that same year. Her distinguished career spanned over six decades until she officially announced her retirement from film recording and stage performances in 2016. In 2018, she briefly came out of retirement to lend her voice to the Tamil film Pannaadi, ending an incredible 60-year legacy in the music industry.
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Published:
Jul 11, 2026 08:18 PM EST