Alka Yagnik

The consensus is that Alka Yagnik was in the right place at the right time. The place was Bollywood and the time was the '80s -- just as Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar were starting to slow down. The daughter of a classical singer whose dreams of success were cut short by a throat problem, Yagnik claims that her singing was a hobby that evolved almost accidentally into a career. But the truth is she was an All India Radio artist at the age of 8, won a Sugam Sangeet competition in Calcutta at age 11, and was singing for composers like Laxmikant and Rajesh Roshan before she hit puberty. Yagnik broke into films thanks to a few key introductions, and she enjoyed steady work through the '80s but saw no major hits until 1988's "Ek Do Tin Char" for the film Tezaab. Songs like "Panchi Nadiya" (Refugee) and "Tu Mile Dil" (Criminal) only extended her influence, and she's gone on to win four Filmfare awards.