Jikki

Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese, and Hindi languages.

Early life Jikki was born in Chennai on November 3rd, 1935. Her parents, Gajapathi Naidu and Rajakanthamma, a Telugu family, had moved from Chandragiri, near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai for their livelihood.

Her uncle, Devaraju Naidu, worked as a music composer with the celebrated Kannada theatre legend and movie pioneer Gubbi Veeranna and this introduced the young Jikki to the music and film world.

Career Krishnaveni began her career as a child artist in 1943 and played a minor role in a Telugu movie named Panthulamma, directed by Gudavalli Ramabrahmam. In 1946, she appeared in the movie Mangalasutram, a remake of a Hollywood movie Excuse Me.

Personal life

She was married to the successful playback singer and music director A. M. Rajah. Their duets have been hits. Jikki sang many songs under her husband's direction that are still played by radio stations. A. M. Raja and Jikki have sung for live programmes in other countries such as U. S. A., Malaysia and Singapore.

A mother of six children, Jikki lost her husband when he slipped and fell between the tracks while boarding a train. The accident happened at Valliyur railway station in Tirunelveli district on 8 April 1989, when both of them were on the way to perform a concert in a temple in Kanyakumari district. After his death she stopped singing for some time. She came out of retirement and sang for Ilaiyaraja. She also started a music troupe with her two sons and performed in many countries including the United States, Malaysia and Singapore.

Discography