Udit Narayan was originally named Udit Narayan Jha. He is an accomplished playback singer in commercial Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Nepali language cinema. He was born on 1st December 1960 in a village called Bharadah in Saptari, Nepal. He started his career during the early 1970s by singing Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bengali, English, and Nepali folk songs for Radio Nepal.

Career of Udit Narayan
After moving to Mumbai in 1978 Udit received his training in Indian classical music for six long years at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan as a scholarship student. In the year 1980, he got his first opportunity to lend his voice for the Hindi movie Unees Bees under the noted music director (composer) Rajesh Roshan. He also had the honour of accompanying Mohammed Rafi. But his actual rise to fame was noticed from the year 1988, with the Bollywood superhit `Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak`.

After that Narayan scaled great heights overnight and became one amongst the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry. At that time, he was equally famous in Nepal and sang in many popular Nepali movies. He has also acted in many Nepali movies like `Kusume Rumal` and `Pirati`. With the film `Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge`, his career took a significant turn. Udit`s song `Mehndi Lagake Rakhna` won many honours.

For the next 10 years, Udit Narayan has worked with celebrated music directors like Anu Malik, A. R. Rahman, Jatin Lalit, Rajesh Roshan, Nadeem-Shravan, Shankar Mahadevan, etc. He has also worked under the production houses of Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan Johar, etc. The combination of the iconic Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan and Udit Narayan has proved to be a very satisfactory one. Some films where Udit Narayan has lend voice for Shahrukh Khan are `Darr`, `Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge`, `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai`, `Dil To Pagal Hai`, `Mohabbatein`, `Swades`, `Veer Zaara` etc.

In 2004, he released his first private Nepali album "Upahaar". His wife Deepa Jha has also sung for him, in the album. Upahaar became a superhit as well as one of the best selling albums of all times, in Nepal. He won two major awards - `Record of the Year` and `Album of the Year` for his album "Upahaar", in Hits FM Awards 2004, the most popular music awards in Nepal. He has lent his voice on a regular basis for actors like Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. Udit Narayan has a son named Aditya Narayan. The husband-wife duo has also released an album together titled Dil Deewana. Aditya Narayan has also carved out a niche for himself in the realm of music since his childhood.

Awards and Honours of Udit Narayan
Acknowledging his talent he was conferred many honours throughout his professional career.

Honours
2009: Padma Shri

National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
2002: "Mitwa" - Lagaan & "Jaane Kyon" - Dil Chahta Hain
2003: "Chhote Chhote Sapne" - Zindagi Khoobsurat Hai
2005: "Yeh Taara Woh Taara" - Swades

Filmfare Best Male Playback Award
1988: "Papa Kehte Hai" - Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
1995: "Mehndi Lagake Rakhna" - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge
1996: "Pardesi Pardesi" - Raja Hindustani
1999: "Chand Chupa Badal Mein" - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
2001: "Mitwaa" - Lagaan