[1] Lalitha was born at Trivandrum, Kerala, as the daughter of Narayana Bhagavathar and Parvathy ammal on 19 August 1931.

The brothers were Asthana Vidwans (in-house musicians) at the Royal Palace of Trivandrum.

She learnt many kritis from Papanasam Sivan,[2] Her first public concert was staged at Mavelikkara (Kerala).

She has sung under several music directors including Br Lakshmanan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, G. Ramanathan, Ghantasala, Pendyala Nageshwara Rao and C. N. Pandurangan.

Lalitha Bhanu was conferred with the title "Ganabooshanam" and was presented with a Tambura (with an emblem of Swathi Tirunal) by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.