Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema.

Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives – an immediate start as a dubbing artist or a later break as a singer; Shubha chose the latter for her daughter.

[8] Trained in the classical style, Yagnik began singing Bhajans for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta[10] at the age of six.

[12] In addition to Hindi, she has sung in more than twenty-five languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Manipuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Tamil and Telugu,[13] besides singing 15 Pakistani songs.

[15] In 1993, Yagnik sang a seductive song "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" with Ila Arun.

[16] In 1994, she sang another seductive song "Din Mein Leti Hai" from the film Amaanat with co-singer Kumar Sanu and Ila Arun, composed by Bappi Lahiri and lyrics by Anwar Sagar.

[20] In 2012, she along with Sonu Nigam sang a song 'Shiksha Ka Suraj' as part of the National Literacy Mission of India for which she was felicitated by Union Minister For Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

[25] In 2014, Yagnik again teamed up with Sonu Nigam to sing the song "Phool Khil Jayenge" for child health awareness.

[26] She also sang a song titled "Maine Li Jo Angdai" for the album Women's Day Special: Spreading Melodies Everywhere.

Rahman, wasn't present in the studio but gave her instructions on a Skype video call and told her she should sing the song her own way.

[27] Yagnik shares the title for the greatest number of Filmfare Awards with Asha Bhosle (seven) by a female playback singer.

[31] Alka has acknowledged veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar as her inspiration,[31] She has sung romantic, sad, peppy, seductive and item number songs.

[38] One of the most well known and leading contemporary singer Sunidhi Chauhan once said that she can't even dream of getting where Lataji, Ashaji and Alkaji (Alka Yagnik) have reached.

[55] She has won a record seven Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer[note 2] for her songs: "Ek Do Teen" from Tezaab (1988),[56] "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" from Khalnayak (1993),[57] "Zara Tasveer Se Tu" from Pardes (1998),[58] "Taal Se Taal" from Taal (2000),[59] "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se" from Dhadkan (2001), "O Re Chhori" from Lagaan (2002) and "Hum Tum" from Hum Tum (2005) from a record thirty-six nominations.