Although the young Sharada aspired to work in Indian Foreign Services, she moved to Bombay when she was 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry.

At one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement jingles.

Through her aunt's contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini,[8] who later introduced Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo Laxmikant–Pyarelal) in late 1976.

Being the only song in the entire movie, "Ondanondu kaladaga" with its folk touch, became a hit and earned fame for Kavita Krishnamurthy.

In 1980, she sang "Kaahe Ko Byaahi Videsh" for the film Maang Bharo Sajana, which featured her singing in her own voice.

In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon" for the film Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985).

Hawa Hawai, which launched her into stardom was dubbed to be recorded by Asha Bhosle, however later producer decided to keep her version despite her mistake in the song.

With a string of hits from 1942, Yaraana, Agni Sakshi and Khamoshi, Kavita Krishnamurthy established herself as a leading female playback singer, alongside Alka Yagnik.

She went on to work with several music directors of the 1990s Hindi films, such as Bappi Lahiri, Anand–Milind, A. R. Rahman, Rajesh Roshan, Raamlaxman, Ismail Darbar, Himesh Reshammiya, Aadesh Shrivastava, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit, Viju Shah and Anu Malik.

Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she has collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields.

[citation needed] Songs such as "Bareyada mounada Kavithe" (Sparsha), "Hoove Hoove" (H2O), "Endo Kanda kanasu" (Lankesh Patrike), "O Malle o dumbi" ('Naga Devate'), "Artha madkolo" (Shishya), "Kaveri Kaveri" (Raja Huli), and many more hit songs made her a household name in Karnataka.

The most prominent ones being: Kavita Subramaniam made many appearances in various music reality shows as a guest judge because of her popularity as a playback singer.

She recently was a judge for Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star (Season 1), which aired on DD National at prime time.