Radha Viswanathan (11 December 1934 – 2 January 2018) was an Indian carnatic vocalist and classical dancer. She was the daughter of

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

and journalist

Kalki Sadasivam Thiagaraja Sadasivam (4 September 1902 – 21 November 1997), better known as Kalki Sadasivam, was an Indian freedom fighter, singer, journalist and film producer who was one of the founders, along with Kalki Krishnamurthy of the Tamil magaz ...

and stepdaughter of highly acclaimed Carnatic vocalist M. S. Subbulakshmi.

Early life and career

Born on 11 December 1934 in Gobichettypalayam,

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 ...

, she was the eldest daughter of Thiagarajan Sadasivam and his first wife, Apithakuchambal. After the death of his first wife Apithakuchambal, her father married M. S. Subbulakshmi, who brought her up. Radha accompanied her mother Subbulakshmi on stage since the age of five. She learned

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

, making her arangetram (debut) in 1945. At the age of 21, Radha gave up dancing to concentrate exclusively on singing. She learnt

Kriti Kriti may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kriti (music), a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music * ''Kriti'' (film), a 2016 Indian Hindi-language short film * Kriti TV, Greek TV station People with the name * Kriti Bhar ...

s and was also trained in

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

. She made her film debut portraying as Bharata in Shakunthala at the age of six.

Personal life

Radha married Guruswamy Viswanathan and had two sons and a daughter. In April 1982, Radha fell critically ill with tuberculosis meningitis and slipped into coma for three months.

Death

At the age of 83, Radha died in Bangalore in January 2018 due to breathing related complications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viswanathan, Radha 1934 births 2018 deaths Women Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Indian women classical singers 20th-century Indian singers People from Gobichettipalayam 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu