We have lost seven gems – singers in the Indian music industry this year, including KK – Lata Mangeshkar, Bappi Lahiri, singer Tarsame Singh Saini aka Taz of Stereo Nation, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Sidhu Moose Wala and veteran Bengali singer Sandhya Mukherjee. Very few celebrities and artists have touched my heart in so many years. KK is one of the few whom I shall miss the most! He symbolized youth and lived life to the fullest. I have always admired you 

Krishnakumar Kunnath aka KK – very few know you by this name! Wishing you a peaceful stay in heaven! You are someone whom I have been following ever since I began my youth. Your music came as a breath of fresh air at a time I was struggling with my teens-adult anguish phase. Each word of your songs resonated with me – beginning with my first crush, friendships, betrayals and heartbreaks to my first relationships. 

You joined India’s music scene at a time when Indipop was at its peak in the cable TV and AIR era. After that, the MTV and Channel V era came. Then you released your first album “Pal” in 1999. There wasn’t a single day when I did not visit Planet M (the legendary music store) in Mumbai back then. Those were the days when we had listening corners in Planet M where we could listen to music on headphones for hours! 

Whichever genre you sung, you carved a special niche for yourself – Indipop, Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood and all entertainment spaces! Your voice would be missed by all of us here and the entire music industry. 

It was too early for you to leave Planet Earth! Little did we know that when you sang “Pal” years ago, its meaning would hit us now. We are all proud that you not only had a rocking entry into the world when you were born but also a rocking exit from the world too – when you did your last concert. You did what you were most passionate about your whole life – did what your heart told you to do. You left a job to be a full-time musician, performed for audiences everywhere before you got your big break.

Being in the limelight and maintaining your image isn’t easy, but you managed to rock the stage with your music for 28 years while keeping your private life intact. You literally breathed music and sang myriad songs to last us a lifetime – 3000 ad jingles, more than 500 songs in Hindi, 200 songs in almost 10 regional languages. Yet these will not be enough for us. Your unique voice that made you stand out among your peers and seniors, and will resonate and reverberate for life! 

Signing off with my favourite song “Pal”:

“Hum, rahen ya na rahen kal
Kal yaad aayenge ke ye pal
Pal, ye hain pyar ke pal
Chal, aa mere sang chal
Chal, soche kya
Chhoti si, hai zindagi
Kal, mil jaaye to hogi khush-naseebi
Hum rahen ya na rahen yaad aayenge ye pal.”

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