Yesudas is fondly called Gana Gandharvan (The Celestial Singer).
Yesudas has won the National Award for Best Male Playback Singer seven times (the most by any Indian singer) and the State Award for the Best Playback Singer 43 times, which consists of awards by the state governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal.
He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975 and Padma Bhushan in 2002. Born at Fort Kochi into a Roman Catholic Latin Rite family, his father Augustine Jospeh was a well-known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor, who was his first guru. Now Yesudas' son Vijay is also a sought after playback singer.
The versatile singer visits the Kollur Mookambika temple near here every year. This time too, he marked his presence and took part in the musical tribute, considered a revered practice of all those who are into music and arts.
