Lata Mangeshkar (Born September 28, 1929) is a singer from India. She is one of the most well-known playback singers in the Indian Hindi movie industry. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over 980 Hindi (or "Bollywood") movies, and has sung songs in over twenty regional Indian languages, primarily Marathi. She is the elder sister of the equally accomplished singer, Asha Bhosle.

Lata is the second vocalist to receive "Bharat Ratna", India's highest civilian honour.

Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for "most recordings" in the world. The claim was that she has reportedly recorded no less than 25,000 solo, duet and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974 (30,000 songs between 1948 and 1987, according to 1987 edition). During the years, several sources have supported the claim, although other reputed sources have raised concerns for its veracity, claiming that the number of songs was highly exaggerated, and Mangeshkar's sister, Asha Bhosle, has recorded more songs than her. More