Happy birthday Sonu Nigam: From Tu to Tera Milna, revisit his early chartbusters that we couldn’t get enough of in the ’90s

Happy birthday Sonu Nigam: As the singer turns 47 on Thursday, we are bringing back some of his earlier and most popular chartbusters that will remind you of your childhood.

Singer Sonu Nigam turns 47 on Thursday and it’s quite unbelievable how quickly time has flown by. It feels just like a couple of years ago when we would watch his songs on Channel V or hear his amazing voice on the radio in the 1990s.

Sonu Nigam delivered several hits with his albums as well.

A boy from Faridabad in Haryana, Sonu’s first playback song was for a 1990 movie that never released. His first released song was O Aasman Wale from 1992 movie Aaja Meri Jaan. After that, Sonu was loaded with work, singing for films such as Gaddar, Jeet and Bewafa Sanam. However, it was with songs such as Yeh Dil Deewana from Pardes and Sandese Aate Hain from Border, that cemented his place as the go-to male playback singer of Bollywood.

Sonu Nigam in a still from his video Tu (1998).

He released his superhit album, Deewana, in 1999 after singing for movies for almost a decade. Deewana, composed by Sajid Wajid, was a chartbuster with multiple songs from the album becoming certified hits. The title track, Ab Mujhe Raat Din and Is Kadar Pyar Hai Tumse played on a loop on all music video channels and the radio. The gorgeous music videos featuring then models such as Milind Soman, Diwakar Pundir, Michelle Innes and Sushma Reddy, helped the songs’ popularity too.

The album was followed by Jaan in 2000 with songs such as Deewane Hoke Hum and Tera Milna Pal Do Pal Ka. Both these songs and their videos were a hit with fans as well. In Tera Milna’s music video, Sonu even reunited with Bipasha Basu. They had previously shot for Tu in 1998, a peppy number from his album Kismat.

With so many loved numbers to his credit, Sonu has been among the most sought after singers in India ever since he made his debut. Check out some of his most awesome old songs:

Recently, Sonu opened up about his war with music label T-Series and how the work they did together in the late 90s. Sonu accused T-Series head Bhushan Kumar of being the ‘mafia’ in the music industry in a video last month. “Tune galat aadmi se panga le liya, samjha (You have messed with the wrong person, understand),?” he said.

Sonu claimed Bhushan planted articles about him in the media and persuaded musicians to give interviews against him. The singer warned him to back off or he would release the video of Marina Kuwar on his YouTube channel.

In retaliation, Bhushan’s wife Divya Khosla Kumar called Sonu thankless. “Today it’s all about who can run a good campaign.... im even seeing people being able to sell lies & deceits with their strong campaigns.... #sonunigam,” Divya wrote, adding, “such kind of people know how to play with the minds of the audience ..... God save our world !!!”

Follow @htshowbiz for more