KJ Yesudas: Prime Minister Narendra Modi wishes the legendary singer on his 80th birthday

Legendary singer Kattassery Joseph Yesudas, popularly known as KJ Yesudas, celebrated his 80th birthday on Friday. Netizens have flooded social media with heartfelt wishes on the occasion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to his official Twitter handle and wished the noted singer.

In his tweet, PM Modi wished the celebrated singer a long and healthy life. He went on to say how the musician's melodious music and soulful renditions have made him popular across all groups. 

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About KJ Yesudas

Born on January 10, 1940, Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is best known for his contributions as a singer in Indian classical, devotional and cinematic songs. The latter has recorded  80,000 songs in his entire career in various Indian las well as foreign languages like  Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Odia as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian. Yesudas is also as Gaanagandharvan (the celestial singer).

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Throughout his five-decade-long career, Yesudas has also been awarded various prestigious awards and titles including the National Award for Best Male Playback Singer for a record eight times, five Filmfare Awards (South), and 43 State Awards for the Best Playback Singer. State governments of various states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal have also honored the ace musician.

The Government of India has honored the legendary singer with Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan (second-highest civilian award) in 2017 for his contributions towards arts.

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