She is also considered one of the rich voiced singers whose pronunciation of the syllables are to be very clear and precise in any of the languages she sang.
[12] In a career spanning more than six decades, she has recorded nearly 17695 songs in various Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Sanskrit, Tulu, and Badaga.
Born into a music-loving family, Susheela had been nurtured with formal classical music training at a very young age.
She developed the crucial nuances in singing songs with apt expressions and modulations through her extensive training during those days.
In 1951, music director Pendyala Nageswara Rao was on the look out for some fresh voices to sing for his new film compositions.
She was immediately signed on for the Tamil film Petra Thai (1953) for a duet song "Edhuku Azhaithhai" with A. M.
This resulted in her long term employment with AVM Studios singing for their productions alone with a fixed monthly salary.
[13] It was not easy for a newcomer to foray into the musical scene in the 1950s with the domination of eminent female vocalists like P. Leela, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Jikki among others ruling the playback industry.
Missamma released in 1955 had hugely popular songs backed with strong carnatic classical essence.
Sounderrajan and others and her solo songs were very popular with the audience and made her first choice singer for every other music composer and film producer from 1960 to 1985.
It was during these years the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar developed a strong friendship with Susheela and praised her works frequently.
The 1970s also saw Susheela in her prime form winning almost all the awards both nationally and in all the four states of Southern India.
She also recorded Hindi songs during this period with music directors like KV Mahadevan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, L. Vaidyanathan and Laxmi Kiran, S.L.
Though Janaki took a leading position from 1980 with her strong association with M.S.V and Ilaiyaraja, Susheela continued to be at the top till 1985 and after 1985 was still opted by several music directors for her legendary vocals.
She sang duets in Hindi with Kishore Kumar in 1986 for the film Singhasan – "Chalta Hai Do Dilon Ka Kaise Sansaar" and "Tere Liye Maine Janam" which became popular.
In 1988, acclaimed music composer Naushad insisted her to sing "Janaki Jaane" for his Malayalam film Dhwani.
"Kannukku Mai Azhagu" from the film Pudhiya Mugam (1993) composed by Rahman was praised all over for its lyrical content and rendition.
The P. Susheela Trust, formed in 2008, has a monthly pension payment scheme and a few musicians in need are being benefited through it.
The recipients of the Trust's awards so far are S. Janaki, Vani Jairam, L. R. Eswari, P. Jayachandran, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and K. J. Yesudas.
Before going to USA and UK (in the late '70s), Susheela and SPB recorded 19 duets in one day over 18 hours in addition to a few solo songs.
S. P. Balasubramaniam's first Kannada song Kanasido Nanasido from Nakkare Ade Swarga was a duet with Susheela.