Lourde-Mary Rajeswari, better known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung many songs in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Tulu and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. She was awarded with the

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government ...

, an award for arts and culture in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, for her contributions to the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...

Early life

She was born in Chennai into a Roman Catholic family to Anthony Devraj and Regina Mary Nirmala. Her ancestors were from Paramagudi near Madurai. Her full name is Lourde-Mary Rajeshwari. Since there was already another established singer with the name of M.S.Rajeshwari her name was abbreviated into L.R.Eshwari. She did not have any formal training in singing. Her mother was a chorus singer in films. Eshwari used to accompany her mother to the studios and soon began singing in the chorus herself, but quickly got a break to lend her voice as lead-singer. Her first break came from Sri K.V.Mahadevan in 1958 in the movie ‘Periya Idaththu Sammandham’, her first solo song recorded in this movie was ‘ivarey thaan avarey’. But major recognition came from the song ‘vaarai en thozhi vaaraayo’ from the movie ‘paasa malar’ (1961) sung under the baton of Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, which composers explored and exploited her vocal abilities to the maximum extent possible over the next 20 years.

Career

L.R Eswari gave her first song "Inbanaalidhe Idhayam Kaanudhe" for the movie

Manohara Manohara is the kinnari (half-woman, half-bird) heroine of one of the Jataka tales. Typically referred to as Manohara and Prince Sudhana, the legend appears in the Divyavadana and is documented by stone reliefs at Borobodur. Versions of the st ...

(1954) along with

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese, and Hindi lan ...

. She sang under the direction of famous composers like

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar" (), he ...

, T.K. Ramamoorthy,

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician who won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Music Direction in (1967) for '' Kandan Karunai''. ...

, Veda, V. Kumar, Shankar-Ganesh, G. K. Venkatesh and

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan (2 March 1935 – 8 September 2008) was an Indian classical music violinist and music composer. Early life Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan was born on 2 March 1935 and was trained by his father, Ramaswamy Sastry. His father, sang an ...

. Her voice was considered to be suited for peppy numbers in the movies. She has also recorded many devotional albums in praise of the Goddess

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

. She sang Christmas songs like "Varuvai Varuvai" and "Deivam Thantha Divya Kumaaran". She has won the

Kalaimamani Award The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government o ...

and other state awards. P. Susheela and she sang with Unadhu Malar, Chiththira Poovizhi, Ninaithaal Sirippu, and Thoodhu Sella. She sang a duet "Gudilona Naa Swamy Koluvai Unnadu" with

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely referred to as Janaki Amma and Nightingale of India(nightingale of South) . She is one of the greatest playback singers in the history ...

in the Telugu movie ''Idalokam'', with music by Chakravarthy. She rendered several duets with S. Janaki in Kannada movies as well. She sang various duets with Ghantasala, in the Telugu doyen in his own music direction in the Telugu movie ''Pandava Vana Vaasam'', and in K. V. Mahadevan's music direction in ''Prema Nagar'', T. M. Soundararajan, A. L. Raghavan,

P. B. Sreenivas Prathivadhi Bhayankara Sreenivas (22 September 1930 – 14 April 2013) widely known as P. B. S. was an Indian playback singer, composer, harmonium player, Lyricist and poet known for his works in South cinema, and Bollywood. His major chunk of ...

, S.P. Balasubramaniam,

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas ( /jeːʃud̪aːs/; born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian m ...

, J. P. Chandrababu, C. S. Jayaraman, S. C. Krishnan,

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was an Indian playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as '' Manthiri Kumari'' (1950)and Sarvadhikari'. He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

A. M. Rajah Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah, popularly known as A. M. Rajah (1929–1989), was an Indian playback singer and music director. Early life A. M. Rajah was born on 1 July 1929 in Ramapuram village, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. His father die ...

, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, Malaysia Vasudevan, and Jayachandran. She also sang duets with female singers, most notably with P. Suseela, S. Janaki,

Vani Jayaram Vani Jairam (born Kalaivani; 30 November 1945 – 4 February 2023) was an Indian playback singer in Indian cinema. She is fondly referred to as the "'' Meera of modern India''" Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. Sh ...

, K. Jamuna Rani,

M. S. Rajeswari M. S. Rajeswari (; 24 February 1932 – 25 April 2018) was an Indian playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. Early life She was born on 24 February 1932 to Madurai Satagopan and ...

and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi. She sang "Kanda kanmaniye ammana araginiye o raja", a Kannada song for the movie "Balanagamma" in the early 1960s.

Re-entry

After a long break, she made her re-entry through a rocky peppy Tamil song, "Kalasala Kalasala", in the 2011 movie ''

Osthe ''Osthe'' (''The Best'') is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by S. Dharani, a remake of the 2010 Bollywood film ''Dabangg''. It stars Silambarasan, Richa Gangopadhyay, Sonu Sood, Jithan Ramesh, Santhanam, VTV Ganesh ...

'', starring

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar (born 3 February 1984), popularly known as Simbu or by his initials as STR, is an Indian actor, producer, and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He is the eldest son of director T. Rajendar. ...

. She sang the song "Naa Poondamallida" in the film ''

Thadaiyara Thaakka ''Thadaiyara Thaakka'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Magizh Thirumeni. The film stars Arun Vijay and Mamta Mohandas, with Rakul Preet Singh, Maha Gandhi and Vamsi Krishna in suppo ...

'' in the following year. She has also recently sang a

song for the movie ''

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

'', named "Yakka Nin Magalu Nanage", with

Kailash Kher Kailash Kher (born 7 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, live performer, and composer. He sings songs with a music style influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music. He was inspired by the classical musicians Kumar Gandharva, Hrida ...

. In 2013, she sang a duet song called "Thagadu Thagadu" along with T. Rajendar in the movie ''

Arya Surya ''Arya Surya'' is a 2013 Indian Tamil comedy film directed by Rama Narayanan. The film stars Srinivasan and Vishnupriyan while Nakshatra, Kovai Sarala and Gangai Amaren play supportive roles. Cast Soundtrack The music was composed by Sri ...

''. In 2014, she sang the song "Jaipuril Jaipuril" in the movie '' Athithi'', with music by Bharadwaj. In 2020, she sung a song for the film ''

Mookuthi Amman ''Mookuthi Amman'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language fantasy comedy film written and directed by RJ Balaji in his directorial debut. Co-directed by N. J. Saravanan, the film stars Nayanthara and Balaji, with Urvashi, Smruthi Venkat, Madhu Mail ...

'' named "Aadi Kuthu".

Notable songs

Tamil songs

Telugu songs

Malayalam songs

She had sung in around 200 Malayalam films.

Kannada songs

Onscreen appearances

*''

Thillalangadi ''Thillalangadi'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Mohan Raja. A remake of the 2009 Telugu film ''Kick'', it stars Raja's brother Ravi Mohan (credited as Jayam Ravi) along with Tamannaah Bhatia, and Shaam, who r ...

'' (2010) as herself *''

'' (2020) as herself

References

External links

*
The Titillating Voices of Two Tamil Playback Singers in Movie minutes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eswari, L. R. 1939 births Living people Indian women playback singers Singers from Chennai Kannada playback singers Tamil playback singers Malayalam playback singers Telugu playback singers Indian Roman Catholics 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu