S. Janaki, born Janaki on April 23, 1938, in Pallapatla, Repalle Taluka, Guntur, Madras Presidency, British India (now Andhra Pradesh), was an Indian playback singer. She started her career with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957 at age 19 and recorded songs in six languages that year. Throughout her six-decade career, S. Janaki released a prolific amount of music for films, on albums and on television and radio. She collaborated with composers such as R. Sudarsanam and recorded over 48,000 songs in 20 Indian languages and several foreign languages. Notable Kannada hits include "Shiva shiva ennada naaligeyeke" from the film Hemavathi (1977) and "Poojisalende Hoogala" from Eradu Kanasu (1974). S. Janaki won four National Film Awards, 33 State Film Awards, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore. She announced her retirement in 2016 but returned to sing for the Tamil film Pannaadi in 2018.
