[5] In 1968, when Wadkar was 13, Jialal Vasant encouraged him to work towards the "Prabhakar" certificate offered by the Prayag Sangit Samiti, because it was equivalent to a BEd and qualifies the awardee to teach professionally.

Two of his most famous songs are "Tum Se Milke" from Parinda (1989) and "Aye Zindagi Gale Laga Le" from Sadma (1983) and "Gori Sapno me hai" from Insaaf ki Manzil (1988).

Wadkar sang his first Tamil song in the 2009 film Kanden Kadhalai, an adaptation of the Hindi blockbuster Jab We Met.

In 1996, Wadkar sang Channeache Rati among several other songs in Rajendra Talak's Konkani album Daryachya Deger with Asha Bhosle.

[9] He was a judge on the Indian TV singing show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs and at the 2005 Sangeet Awards.

[10][11] In 2022, he was the judge for Zee TV's devotional music reality show Swarna Swar Bharat along with Kumar Vishwas and Kailash Kher.

[12][13] Wadkar is the director of the Ajivasan(Acharya Jialal Vasant Sangeet NIkaetan) Music Academy in Mumbai [14] He also has a training institute in and New Jersey/New York City area.

[3] On January 25, 2020, his name was announced for Government of India's fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, for his work in the field of arts.