Nostalgia with Usha Uthup: “I went on to become the highest paid nightclub singer at ₹1,500 a month”

The singer talks about starting her career singing at bars, unknowingly making a fashion statement wearing sarees on stage, and her love for junk food

At 22, where were you career-wise?

Usha Utthup at 22 (inset) and at 74

Usha and Jani signing the register after getting married at the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Delhi, as her father-in-law watches

Usha posing with a cat for the KSPCA, The Kenya Society for Protection and Care of Animals

Usha singing in Mombasa

Usha singing in Bombay at the Shanmukhananda hall with her band

Usha with Count Borletti and his wife at the International Casino in Nairobi, Kenya

Usha singing at her favourite haunt Trincas with the house band

Usha with George Muhoho at the International Casino in Nairobi

Usha Uthup’s biography, originally written in Hindi by Vikas Kumar Jha