Kavita Krishnamurthy Subramaniam was born on the 25th of January, 1958, into a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi. At the insistence of her aunt, she would enrol herself into learning music, learning Hindustani classical music as well as Rabindra Sangeet. She would win many local and city-wide competitions for music, which became a sign of things to come.

During her ascent to popularity, she got noticed by veteran singer Manna Dey, who employed her to sing many advertisement jingles. Her connections grew from this point onwards and she was also introduced to the music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal by 1976.

Her very first solo song would be in the movie Kadambari - a remake of none other than Lata Mangeshkar’s Aayega Aanewala dating back to the late 1940s. Kavita’s mastery of Hindustani classical music impressed everyone in the studio. Laxmikant-Pyarelal would also sponsor her a lot, leading to the label that she worked exclusively with them.

She would continue singing songs, moving from Bollywood to the Kannada film industry, working under legends like Girish Karnad. Her career in Bollywood would only take off in the mid-1980s with the hit Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyun. From then onwards, it was a success story. In the 1990s, she became the leading female playback singer of Bollywood - with songs in movies like 1942 A Love story, Yaraana, Bhairavi etc.

She has continued to sing for television programmes, appears as a guest in many musical shows, and is widely respected for her work.