Neha Kakkar

She is the most followed female Indian artist and 22nd most followed artist globally on Spotify.

Neha Kakkar Singh (née Kakkar; born 6 June 1988) is an Indian playback singer.

She is the younger sister of playback singers Tony Kakkar and Sonu Kakkar.

She began performing at a very early age at religious events.

Kakkar was born on 6 June 1988, in Rishikesh in the state of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand).

In the early 1990s, Kakkar along with her family, moved to Delhi to try her luck at singing.

Kakkar, at the age of four, started performing at local gatherings and religious event.

In 2004, she moved to Mumbai along with her brother, Tony Kakkar.

In 2005, she participated in the second season of the singing reality show, Indian Idol.

She made her Bollywood debut as a chorus singer in the film Meerabai Not Out.

In 2005, she participated in the second season of the singing reality show Indian Idol, in which she was eliminated early.

In 2006, at the age of eighteen, Kakkar auditioned for the second season of Indian Idol where she got eliminated early in the show.

In 2008, she launched her debut album, Neha The Rockstar with music by Meet Bros.

Anjjan.

During this time, she recorded for a music album, Romeo Juliet composed by her brother, Tony Kakkar.

She sang "Hai Rama" from Meerabai Not Out (2008) along with Sukhwinder Singh.

The following year, she was featured in A.R. Rahman's composition, the theme song of Blue (2009), where she provided the chorus vocals for the song.

She then lent her voice for the title track of the Hindi-language soap opera Na Aana Is Des Laado (2009).

In 2010, Kakkar made her screen debut with Vidhi Kasliwal's film Isi Life Mein...! (2010) in which she played the role of a college student.

The same year, she debuted in both the Kannada and Telugu music industry by performing a total of four tracks for Sandeep Chowta.

She lent her voice for the title track of the Kannada film Thamassu and the song "Nodu Baare" alongside Master Saleem.

The former resulted in her only Filmfare Awards South nomination as the Best Female Playback Singer.

She appeared in the second season of Comedy Circus Ke Taansen alongside Kapil Sharma and Ali Asgar.

The following year, her collaboration with Pritam for the dance track "Second Hand Jawaani" from Cocktail proved to be a major breakthrough for Kakkar.

The song went to become popular among the music listeners, though it received mixed to negative reviews from critics.

She rose to prominence with the release of the dance track "Second Hand Jawaani" from Cocktail (2012), which was followed by several popular party songs, including "Sunny Sunny" from Yaariyan and "London Thumakda" from the 2014 soundtrack album Queen.

Apart from playback singing, Kakkar has appeared in several music videos and as a judge on several television reality shows, including "Indian Idol".

In 2012, she released "SRK Anthem" on YouTube, a tribute to actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Kakkar's first release of 2013, "Botal Khol" from Prague, met with controversy, where Central Board of Film Certification raised objections on the song citing that its lyrics contain double meaning.

This was followed by a Sachin–Jigar's item number composed for Ramaiya Vastavaiya.

Titled "Jadoo Ki Jhappi".

She next collaborated with Pritam for another item song, "Dhating Nach", performed alongside Nakash Aziz and Shefali Alvares.

2014 saw the rise of Kakkar with the release of three popular songs.

The first release of the year was a collaboration with Yo Yo Honey Singh for the film Yaariyan.

The duo collaborated once again for Bollywood's first trance number, "Manali Trance" from The Shaukeens.

Her first work with Amit Trivedi, a wedding song titled "London Thumakda" was released in the same year and received positive reviews from critics.

She appeared in the India Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2017 and 2019.

In 2019, Kakkar was listed among the most-viewed female artists on YouTube with 13.9 billion views.

In January 2021, she became the first Indian singer to win a YouTube Diamond Award.

In December 2020, she appeared on the list of Asia's 100 Digital Stars by Forbes.