Asha Puthli

Asha Puthli is a singer-songwriter, producer, and actress born on February 4, 1945, and raised in Bombay, India. She has recorded solo albums for EMI, CBS/Sony, and RCA. Her recordings cover blues, pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, and techno and have been produced by Del Newman and Teo Macero. Puthli was born into a Hindu family. She is a niece of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a homemaker. Like many upper middle class Hindu children at the time, she attended English-speaking Catholic schools. Puthli began training at an early age in Indian classical music and opera. She listened to jazz and pop music on the radio, which led to her interest in fusion. At thirteen she won a contest in which she sang "Malagueña". The victory encouraged her to begin improvising with a jazz band at local tea dances. Ved Mehta described her singing in his book Portrait of India. She went to a university in Mumbai. After receiving her degree, Puthli worked as a British Airways flight attendant. For her training, she spent two months in London where she later recalled she "would get to hear real jazz". While vacationing in America, she auditioned for a dance sch...