Shailendra Singh

He was born in Bombay in 1952, the son of a cinematographer, and trained in acting at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Raj Kapoor, hearing him sing, tested him for Bobby; Laxmikant-Pyarelal recorded him, and the film's success gave him a run of work for Rishi Kapoor and for Rakesh Roshan, Sachin and other young actors — Humne Tumko Dekha, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, Sawan Ke Jhoole Pade, Jaane Do Na.

By the early 1980s Rishi Kapoor's songs were going to Kishore Kumar and then to newer voices, and Shailendra's film career slowed; he acted in a few films, sang on stage, and later appeared in reality television. He lives in Mumbai.

Shailendra Singh's voice was young, open and unpolished in a way that suited the college-boy heroes of the 1970s exactly — a voice that sounded its age. It never had Kishore's range or craft, and it was not meant to; the Bobby songs are the sound of first love at eighteen.