Mumbai, April 13 -- Asha Bhosle, diva, chanteuse, and among India's most beloved artistes, died in Mumbai on Sunday, bringing to a close a glorious career that spanned over seven decades in which she sang over 12,000 songs in 20 languages. She was 92. Bhosle was the last of that generation of great singers who took Hindi film music to its pinnacle. The sheer longevity of her career, her great cut-glass voice, and her open-mindedness towards different musical inspirations meant that she influenced multiple generations of musicians and aficionados. Tributes from around the world poured in hours after her death following a brief illness. "Her unique musical journey spanning decades has enriched our cultural heritage," wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. "Voices fade, but hers has only retreated into a deeper chamber of memory, where it will continue to resonate for those who have known longing through song," filmmaker Muzaffar Ali told HT. Bhosle won the National Award for Ali's Umrao Jaan in 1981, its songs among the most memorable in her vast oeuvre. Born in Sangli, Maharashtra, on September 8, 1933 in a family of musicians that traced its roots to Goa, she was just nine when she lost her father, Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, the famous Marathi actor-singer. Lata Mangeshkar, the eldest of the five siblings, joined a Kolhapur-based film studio to keep the home fires burning. A year later, the young Asha too started to pitch in when she sang her first song in the 1943 Marathi film, 'Mazhe Bal' (My Child). Although she was often dogged by comparison with her legendary sister Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle charted her own career path with her versatility, immense talent and perseverance. Through the 1960s and '70s especially, the two sisters reigned supreme in the Hindi film music industry, often sparking debate among connoisseurs about which of the two was the GOAT. Raj Thackeray, who knew both Mangeshkar sisters, compared them to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo of Indian film music. "When you look at da Vinci's work, you keep sensing the perfection in it, an exquisite precision, a tremendous stillness, and a spiritual experience that suddenly washes over you. All of this is felt in Didi's (Lata Mangeshkar's) singing.Then, in Michelangelo's work, there is delicacy, passion, playfulness and rebellion too. Sometimes it feels like his sculptures are impatient to break free from the stone. It was the same with Asha Tai's songs. In her singing there is longing, mischief, boldness, and that inherent human recklessness, an intense desire to throw caution to the winds." he wrote in a social media post. This precise desire afflicted Asha's personal life too when at 16 she eloped with a transport operator, Ganpatrao Bhosle, straining ties with her family. It was the year she also had her first child and the couple struggled to make ends meet. In later years, Bhosle would often reminisce about her years of apprenticeship. "I would do the morning chores-fill water, cook and wash clothes-at our home in Borivali before leaving for work. Those were difficult times. I would travel by tram or train, hopping from one studio to another in search of a song. Rookie chorus singers were paid Rs.100 in those days," she once reminisced to this writer. By the 1950s, Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum were in the top league of singers, teaming up with ace music directors such as Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra, S D Burman, Madan Mohan, Shankar-Jaikishan and Sajjad Hussain. Bhosle had to settle for talented, but lesser-known composers like Hansraj Behl, Sardul Kwatra and Lachhiram, crooning a mujra number here or a club song there. But it were these so-called B-grade songs, meant to appeal to the bleacher seats, that helped Bhosle consolidate her position in the fiercely competitive world of Hindi film music. "By giving voice to vamps, the 'fallen' women, Bhosle offered oomph as a counterpoint to Hindi cinema's female protagonist, who was condemned to uphold conservative values. This was much before women's empowerment came into public discourse," says writer and artist Prakash Bal Joshi....