In January 2021, Neha Kakkar became the first Indian singer to win a YouTube Diamond Award.
Neha Kakkar is one of the leading Indian singers on the block, and the younger sister of playback singers Tony Kakkar and Sonu Kakkar. She rose to fame with the release of the dance track "Second Hand Jawaani" from Cocktail (2012), followed by a series of popular dance tracks, including "Sunny Sunny" from Yaariyan and "London Thumakda" from Queen. Eventually, she has been seen as a judge on several television reality shows, including Indian Idol – the singing reality show she was a contestant on in the year 2005.
While she was the first Indian singer to win a YouTube Diamond Award and is the most followed female Indian artist, her rise to prominence was not an easy one, and involved a lot of grit and determination. So on her 37th birthday on June 6, let’s recall her journey from Indian Idol contestant to Bollywood’s one of the most popular singers.
In 2008, Neha launched her debut album with music by Meet Bros. Anjjan, and the same year, she sang “Hai Rama" from Meerabai Not Out (2008) along with Sukhwinder Singh. In 2010, she debuted in both the Kannada and Telugu music industry, but it was not until her collaboration with Pritam for "Second Hand Jawaani" from Cocktail that got her breakthrough.
In 2013, she worked on tracks like "Jadoo Ki Jhappi" from Ramaiya Vastavaiya, and collaborated with Pritam for another item song, "Dhating Nach". In 2014, she marked her collaboration with Yo Yo Honey Singh for the film Yaariyan, and they worked together again for Bollywood's first trance number, "Manali Trance" from The Shaukeens. Next was the wedding song titled "London Thumakda" from Queen, which got positive reviews from audience and critics. She then worked on a series of tracks, including "Tu Isaq Mera" from Hate Story 3, and "Wedding Da Season", composed by Amaal Malik. In 2016, her popular song "Mile Ho Tum" from the film Fever went on to become the most-viewed Bollywood song on YouTube.
She has also worked on several recreation of hit songs, including "Kar Gayi Chull" from Kapoor & Sons – a remake of the Haryanvi track "Chull", "Maahi Ve"–a remake of the song "Maahi Ve" from Kaante (2002) for for Wajah Tum Ho apart from "O Janiya"–a remake of the song "Kaante Nahi Kat Te" from Mr. India (1987) for Force 2.
In 2017, Neha started off her first of many collaborations with Tanishk Bagchi, resulting in songs like "Badri Ki Dulhania" from Badrinath Ki Dulhania, "Cheez Badi" from Machine, "Dilbar" from Satyameva Jayate and "Aankh Maarey" from Simmba. In 2019, she again collaborated with Bagchi for "Chamma Chamma", recreated for the film Fraud Saiyyan, "Coca Cola Tu" from Luka Chuppi and "Hauli Hauli" from De De Pyaar De.
From 2017, she, along with her collaboration with Tanishk Bagchi, has highlighted the trend of remaking songs, but nonetheless, she is going strong and there has been no looking back for the singer.
