India's Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar turns eighty

Her golden voice has enthralled millions and as the grande dame of Indian music turns 80 on Monday, Lata Mangeshkar says her only wish is to continue singing till her last breath.

The icon, who first broke onto the music scene with 'Aayega Aanewaala' in "Mahal" (1949), is considered the greatest playback singer in the Indian cinema with more than 50,000 songs to her credit.

Lata has become choosy over the years about Bollywood assignments but her voice in a song ensures success be it 'Kitane Azeeb' in Bhandarkar's 'Page-3' or 'Luka Chhupi' in Raykesh Omprakash Mehra's 'Rang De Basanti'.

She recently recorded 'Daata Sun Maula Sun' for Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Jail'. A prayer sung in jail, the song was composed by Shamir Tandon.

The singer also launched a music album with Sa Re Ga Ma, which is the collection of some of her biggest hits.

Known as India's Nightingale, the singing legend was awarded Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1989 and received the country's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna in 2001.

With over 50,000 songs to her credit, Lata has also featured in the Guiness Book of World Records for highest number of recordings.

She is the only artiste, who can sing in 36 different languages including English, Russian, Dutch, Fijian and Swahili.