Mansoor, Mallikarjun (1910–1992)

Indian classical singer. He dominated Indian vocal music for almost 50 years, singing a combination of Hindustani (north Indian) and Carnatic (south Indian) music.

Mansoor was born in the village of Mansur, near Dharwed in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. He often played truant from school to watch the local drama troupe practising, and eventually ran away from home to join them. He was a natural actor and often played leading roles. His artistic talent was spotted by Appayya Swami, a noted Carnatic singer, who gave him lessons in Carnatic music. He was also noticed by the Hindustani musician Neelakanthabua, who took him to his gharana, or music school, in the central Indian state of Gwalior. Somewhat later, he became a disciple of Allaidya Khan, the pioneering musician and teacher of the Jaipir Atrauli gharana in Bombay (now Mumbai), although it was Khan's sons, Manji and Brij Khan, who were mainly responsible for instructing Mansoor.

He made his first recording in 1933, for HMV, and by the 1940s his fame had spread across the whole of India. He became a music advisor to All India Radio 1960. In 1962 he won the Karnataka Sangeet Natak Academy Award, which he was to win on three further occasions. A few months before he died he received the Padma Vibhushana, one of India's highest decorations.