MUMBAI: Born in Kolkata in 1966, Alka started singing for Akashvani (All India Radio), Kolkata (Then, Calcutta) at the age of six and was brought to Mumbai by her mother at the age of 10 and the rest is history. The singer with a career spanning more than three decades of a successful turned 51 today. Thus, we at Radioandmusic.com decide on replaying her music journey to you.

· Raj Kapoor heard her voice for the first time and sent her with a letter to noted music director Laxmikant.

· Alka’s Bollywood debut was with the film ‘Payal Ki Jhankaar’ in (1980).

· Yagnik’s rise to fame was the song ‘Ek Do Teen’ from the film ‘Tezaab’ (1988), which won her first out of seven Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

· Other than Urdu-Hindi and except Kannada, Alka has sung in many languages including Gujarati, Avadhi, Odia, Assamese, Meitei, Rajasthani, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, English and Malayalam.

· She is a two-time recipient of the National Film Award.

· In 2012 she sang a song 'Shiksha Ka Suraj' along with Sonu Nigam as part of National Literacy Mission of India for which she was felicitated by Union Minister For Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

. Alka shares the title with Asha Bhosle for the greatest number of Filmfare Awards won (seven) by a female playback singer.

. On 25 May 2014, she appeared as a special guest along with Kumar Sanu for the popular TV show Comedy Nights with Kapil.

· The famous song ‘Chamma Chamma’ from ‘China Gate’, which was sung by Alka was featured in the song ‘Hindi Sad Diamonds’ from the soundtrack of the film ‘Moulin Rouge!’

· Alka has also been the judge of various ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge’ shows, and ‘Star Voice of India’, both are singing competition shows.