Bappi Lahiri, the legendary music composer and singer died at a hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday night. He was 69. The film industry veteran who enthralled the music lovers for over five decades, ‘Bappi da’ was the man credited for bringing the ‘disco’ genre to the Indian shores. Starting with ‘Daadu’, his first Bengali film in 1969, Bappi Lahiri rose to the pinnacle of success with Bollywood hits such as ‘Namak Halal’, ‘Sharaabi’, ‘Disco Dancer’, ‘Chalte, Chalte’.

Confirming Bappi Lahiri’s demise, Dr Deepak Namjoshi, director of CritiCare, said that the music composer died just before midnight on Tuesday. The cause of his death has been recorded as obstructive sleep apnea in medical terms. Bappi Lahiri had undergone a treatment at the hospital for a month and was discharged on Monday. However, on Tuesday, his health worsened and his family had called a doctor from the hospital to visit his at his home. After the initial checkup, he was brought back to the hospital, where he breathed his last on late Tuesday night.

Tabla prodigy to ‘Disco King’ – The Journey Unknown

Born as Alokesh Lahiri on November 27, 1952, Bappi Lahiri was a child prodigy. His parents, Aparesh and Bansari Lahiri, were very well-known singers in Kolkata at that time. At the age of 4, Bappi Lahiri had scintillating debut when he played tabla at a concert at the iconic Eden Gardens. By the age of 11, he had already began composing music and when he reached 20, he had already signed up for his first film as a music director. The film was ‘Daadu’ and the year was 1969. But it was the Bollywood that made Bappi Lahiri the legend he came to be known as. He ran away from Kolkata to ‘Bombay’ to work in the Hindi film industry. His mother was close to the family of singing great Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. ‘Kishore Mama’ helped in getting his first Hindi movie ‘Nanha Shikari’ in 1973. But it was Tahir Hussain’s Zakhmee that proved to be a breakthrough moment for the young music composer. And then, there was no looking back. Lahiri idolised Elvis Presley and it showed. Be it his flamboyant singing, his gold chains, Lahiri made an entire generation groove to his beats.

Tributes pour in for ‘Bappi Da’

Since the news of his passing away became public on Wednesday morning, the social media is abuzz with heart-felt tributes with music lovers, leaders and film celebrities remembering the music genius. Prime Minister Naredra Modi took to Twitter to express his grief over Bappi Lahiri’s death.