ONE of Bollywood's most beloved singers has died age 92.

       Here's what we know about the late Lata Mangeshkar.

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       Lata Mangeshakar is one if India's most celebrated and influential singers Credit: AP Who was Lata Mangeshkar?

       Lata Mangeshkar was widely considered one of India's most celebrated and influential singers.

       She was born in Madhya Pradesh to a musical family. Her father was an actor and classical singer and her siblings are musicians too.

       After the death of her father when she was 13, a family friend and production company owner supported the family and helped kickstart her career.

       She debuted acting in Marathi and Hindi cinema, but singing was her passion.

       Her career spanned eight decades and she revered as the "Melody Queen", performing more than 15,000 songs in more than a dozen languages, including one of the defining songs of Bollywood films.

       She was celebrated not only in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh but also in western countries, Africa and the Middle East.

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       What were her most famous songs?

       Her career-defining moment came in the film Mughal-e-Azam, a romantic tragedy from 1960.

       The film's iconic song Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya? (Why fear if you are in love?) is considered one of the defining songs of Bollywood films.

       Her song Aye Mere Waten ke Log, commemorating Indian soldiers who died in the 1962 war with China, is considered second to India's national anthem and moved the then-prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears when she sang it in his presence.

       Many of the songs she performed in more than 500 films are considered classics, including Aaega Aanewale, Lag jaa gale, Mohe panghat Pe, Chalte chalte, Mere Aawaz hi Meri Pechchan hai, Ajeeb Daastan hai, Neela aasma so gaya, Pani pani re and Jiya Jale.

       What was her cause of death?

       The singer died of multiple organ failure at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after she was admitted on January 11 2022 with Covid, it's been reported.

       She was on and off ventilators in a month-long battle since her diagnoses on January 8.

       Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, said Mangeshkar's death had left a "void in our nation that cannot be filled".

       Mangeshkar was a huge fan of cricket, and India's former captain Virat Kohli said her songs had "touched millions of people around the world".

       Several Bollywood stars also expressed their condolences. Actor Hema Malini said she was "lucky" to have performed to several songs sung by Mangeshkar.

       "No one can sing like her, she was very special. Her passing away is very saddening," she told the news agency ANI.