Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955; ) is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured primarily in Hindi films. He has also sung in numerous other languages, including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Sindhi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Malayalam, Assamese, Bagheli and Maithili.
He has won four National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards, with twenty nominations among many others. He won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer three times for the songs Mitwa from Lagaan (2001), Jaane Kyon Log from Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Chote Chote Sapne Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai (2002) and Yeh Taara Woh Taara from Swades (2004). He also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bhojpuri in 2005 as the producer of Kab Hoi Gawna Hamar. He was awarded the Lata Mangeshkar Award by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2015. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contribution to arts and culture.
His contribution to the Indian music industry was recognised by Lata Mangeshkar, who bestowed upon him the title Prince of Playback Singing.
He made his Hindi playback debut with Mohammed Rafi in Unees-Bees (1980) and later sang with Kishore Kumar. He gained nationwide fame with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), performing "Papa Kehte Hain", which won him his first Filmfare Award.
He has sung thousands of songs across Hindi and Nepali cinema.
In recognition of his contribution to Nepalese music, the King of Nepal, Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, awarded him the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu in 2001. He is the only male singer in Filmfare Awards history to have won across three decades: the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
