‘KK wanted to perform live on stage until his last breath’: Lyric Sameer Anjaan remembers singer

Every song has a story behind it, and he has lent his voice to so many of my songs. But when I think of KK, the first song that comes to my mind is “Sach Keh Rahah Hai Deewaana” from ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’. At this time, he had just started getting popular. KK has had faced his fair share of struggle before he could get his big break. He was one of a kind; I don’t think I have come across another singer like him.

I was in Chennai, writing songs with music director Harris Jayaraj for ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’. Producer Vasu Bhagnani (producer) told me that he wants a new singer for this particular song, someone with a very fresh voice, which is deep yet youthful. So, I had heard of KK and I suggested we try getting him to sing the song. I had instantly liked him as a person and his voice was so beautiful, very natural. I thought he would be a great fit because the hero (R Madhavan) was different, the story was also quite different.
We were in a very tight situation, because we had to dub all the songs in one day. There were other singers too, but logics didn’t work out — they were either not available for some reason, or didn’t want to travel all the way to Chennai. At this point, KK turned out to be such a revelation. He took an early morning flight and came there. He sang the song in just a couple of hours and he returned home the same day. He was a trained singer, you give him any song to sing, one with a higher pitch or a lower pitch, Bengali gaanaa de do, Punjabi gaanaa de do, he would sing it impeccably. Singing came naturally to him, he would always sound effortless.

He was a very different person and a very different singer as well. He had a very unique voice, and it touched music lovers immediately. He was god-gifted. He was so simple, was never keen to come in front of the media, he also stayed far away from any kind of controversy. For him, his home and his singing, and performing live on stage were his world. Nothing else mattered to him, he was content with the money he earned. He would tell me how he doesn’t want to keep manufacture music just for the sake of it, ‘maine jitna kamana tha, usse zyada kamaya hai’, he’d say. He never wanted an entourage running around him, he wanted to earn only as much as he needed. He was an educated man, and he was very choosy about what he lent his voice to.
He always said that he was very thankful for the life he has got, for the opportunities that came his way, and he spoke about it without any airs. He would choose to spend time with his family rather than being popular. He’d say, ‘mujhe yeh sab karna hi nahi hai, I want to sing, perform and be with my family’. He used to hate getting his make-up done, stand in front of the camera, face the light, but he loved his live performances and his concerts, and he was very passionate about it. He was one of the finest performers on stage. I’ve seen him perform live, his audience would go crazy about his songs. The love he got from the public was phenomenal, and I wonder how he did it without beating his drum about it. He never went out of his way to promote his concerts either, people would know he is going to be there and they’d show up, that’s it.

He was a very homely person, and would make everyone around him feel like home. His wife and kids are so loving. Jitna acchha singer tha, itna hi acchha cook. I would joke that he has to invite me home and feed me masala dosa. He would say, ‘sir just come home, you don’t need an invitation. whatever south Indian food you want, I’ll cook for you.’
He last performed in Pune, and what a show it was. Yesterday, I spoke to his secretary Hitesh and he told me how he was sitting in the green room while KK was performing, and that he’d call me after the performance. And while I wanted to talk about how beautiful the concert must have been, I was informed KK is no more.
He was one of the fittest people I knew. It pains to talk about him in the past tense. He would do yoga every morning, used to walk regularly, he was also a vegetarian and consumed a healthy diet.
The whole music fraternity is shocked that KK is no more, we can’t believe he died at such a young age, and he was not into drinking or smoking, he always led such a healthy life. He was performing, who would have thought that this would be his last? Think about it, did you see his performance video from last night, he was such a firecracker, what energy he had! It seems like this is how his death was written, maybe this is how he must have thought of going, to keep performing live on stage until his very last breath. Maybe he wanted to go while performing live on stage, doing what he loved, and that’s what happened.
(As told to Komal RJ Panchal.)