Name	K. S. Chithra
Height
Naionality	Indian
Date of Birth	July 27, 1963
Place of Birth	Thiruvananthapuram, India
Famous for	Singing

K. S. Chithra often credited as Chithra (or Chitra), is an Indian playback singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) music playback industry. Popularly known as Chinna Kuyil (Little Nightingale) of South India, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Badaga and Punjabi films. She has recorded more than 15,000 film songs and is a recipient of six National Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards and more than thirty different state film awards.

Born on July 27, 1963, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, into a family of musicians, Chithra’s talent was recognized and nurtured from an early age by her father, the late Krishnan Nair. He was also her first guru (teacher). Chithra received her extensive training in Carnatic music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, and got a Masters in Music from the University of Kerala. She was selected for the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Central Government from 1978–1984. She is married to Vijayashankar, an engineer and businessman. Chithra and Vijayashankar were blessed with their daughter Nandana, born in 2002 after nearly fifteen years of being married. Nandana, who was born with autism, drowned in a pool at a villa in Emirates Hills, Dubai on 14 April 2011.

Chitra was introduced to Malayalam playback by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979 and went on to become a regular singer for many Malayalam musicians, including Raveendran.Attahasam, Snehapurvam Meera and Njaan Ekananu were the first few films which she recorded her songs.She also performed live concerts with K. J. Yesudas in India and abroad and that was a turning point in her career.Veteran music directors such as Raveendran, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Kannoor Rajan and Johnson also helped her move up in her career ladder.She made her debut in the Tamil film industry through the song "Poojaikketha Poovithu" from the film Neethana Antha Kuyil, which was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. She was given the title Chinnakuyil after singing the song "Chinna Kuyil Paadum" from the 1985 released film Poove Poochudava.Director Fazil cast her for this song after Ilaiyaraaja got impressed with her song sung in original version in Malayalam for the film Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu in 1984 directed by himself.

By the mid-eighties, she became the most sought after female singer in Malayalam and Tamil. She recorded many hit songs for the most famous composers in Malayalam and numerous songs for Ilaiyaraaja in Tamil. She has been acredited as the only female singer to have sung the maximum number of songs for the Academy Award winning composer A. R. Rahman for his Tamil film songs. She also sang for veteran composers such as G. Devarajan, M. S. Viswanathan, K. V. Mahadevan, Ouseppachan, Deva, Vidyasagar, Bharadhwaj, Chakravarthy, M. Jayachandran, M.G.Sreekumar, M. M. Keeravani, Hamsalekha, Sharreth, Raj-Koti, Rajan-Nagendra, S. A. Rajkumar, Mani Sharma, Harris Jayaraj, Devisri Prasad and many other south Indian music directors.

She has recorded many memorable Hindi songs for various music directors in Bollywood, namely A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan, Viju Shah, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Naushad, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Jatin-Lalit and many others. She also recorded the Hindi versions of her own Tamil songs sung for A. R. Rahman.

Currently, apart from playback singing, she also appears among the panel of judges in the singing reality Television shows at Kerala (Idea Star Singer) and Tamil Nadu (Airtel Super Singer Junior).