Jagjit Singh was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and
gayaki (singing) is considered as
Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as
Prem Geet (1981),
Arth (1982), and
Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials
Mirza Ghalib (1988) and
Kahkashan (1991). Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and many albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining.