Manak was born as Latif Mohammed on 15 November 1951 to Nikka Khan in Mirasi family, in the village of Jalal[1] in Bathinda district of Indian Punjab.

Sardar Partap Singh Kairon (then Chief Minister of Punjab) penned the name Kuldip Manak, after being amazed by the quality of his voice at a school prize giving.

[1] When they came to Delhi, a music company official spotted Manak and asked him to record the song "jija akhian na maar ve main kall di kurhi" (written by Babu Singh Maan Mararawala) with Seema.

The first folk song sung by Manak was "maa Mirze di boldi", followed by "ohne maut nu waajan maarian".

The writer and lyricist, Hardev Dilgir (also known as Dev Tharikewala) spotted Manak at one of his live performances and penned many Lok Gathavan (English: old folk stories) for him.

In 1976 his first LP, Ik Tara, was released, which included the kali "Tere Tille Ton",[2][9] "Chheti Kar Sarwan Bachcha" and "Garh Mughlane Dian Naaran" and more.

He also acted and sang in many Punjabi films such as Saidan Jogan (1979) with the song "sathon naee majhin chaar hundian", and Lambardaarni (1980) with "yaaran da truck balliye".

While he was discharged from emergency care when his condition stabilized, his son was still admitted in DMC ludhiana undergoing treatment for a mental illness due to which Manak suffered a tremendous amount of stress.

The final song sung in this tribute was "Tere Tille Ton" by Jazzy B, a close student of Ustaad Kuldeep Manak Ji.