Playback singer Vinod Rathod was born in Mumbai, India on September 12, 1962. The son of classical musician Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod, he is best known for his work in Hindi cinema (aka Bollywood). Discovered in 1986 by Bollywood music director Usha Khanna after hearing his voice on a demo cassette, she brought him into the studio to record a qawwali (a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing). Vinod Rathod recorded over 40 songs before transitioning to a career as a playback singer in 1986 with “Mere Dil Main Hai Andhera” (from the movie Bedaag). Other early playback performances include “Zindagi Har Janam” (from 1988’s Vijay), “Mehbooba” and “Parbat Se Kaaili” (from 1989’s Chandni), and “Dil The Tera” and “Kar Liya Hai” (from 1991’s House No. 13). Vinod Rathod came to prominence in 1992 with his performance of “Romeo Naam Mera” (from Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja), which became one of the most popular songs of the year. After that 1992 success, Vinod Rathod became an in-demand playback vocalist and recorded a series of popular songs such as “Nayak Nahi Khalnayak Hoon Main” and “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” (from 1993’s Khalnayak), “Chamma” (from 1998’s China Gate), “Dil Hai Deewana” (from 2002’s Annarth). Over the course of his career, he has recorded over 3500 songs in many other languages including Nepali, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Persian, and others. He has been nominated twice as Best Playback Singer by the Filmfare Awards.
