One of the most beloved voices in the Ghazal genre of Indian music breathed his last today morning. More than two weeks after being admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai , veteran Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh passed away on Monday morning. He was 70. The singer had undergone an emergency surgery for brain hemorrhage at the Lilavati Hospital on September 23.

Hospital sources told AIR that Jagjeet Singh developed complications as he was a case of hypertension, diabetes and ischemic heart ailment. More popularly known as the ‘Ghazal King’, Jagjit Singh, ruled the hearts of millions of music lovers in India and overseas. Jagjeet Singh rose to popularity in the 1970s and 1980s when he also sang many duet Ghazals with his wife Chitra Singh.

The couple became the first and remain till date the most popular married couple singers in modern times. When the genre of Ghazal music was at a time when it was nearing extinction, it was singers like Jagjit Singh who gave this form of music a new life. Jagjeet Singh had sung in several Indian languages v.i.z. Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali . He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh have condoled the untimely demise of noted Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh.

In his condolence message Dr. Singh said Jagjit Singh made Ghazals accessible to everyone and gave joy and pleasure to millions of music lovers in India and abroad. Mrs Soni said that the untimely death of the gazal singer has a left a void which will be difficult to fill. She said that Jagjit Singh's compositions were lyrical masterpiece and will remain embedded in everybody's minds forever.