Suman Kalyanpur was born on January 28, 1937 in Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India [now in Dhaka, Bangladesh]. She is known for Naseeb (1981), Veerana (1988) and Geet (1970).
Suman never won the National or Filmfare Award for singing but is still considered among the popular singers of her prime time.
In a career spanning 35 years she sang for most of the top music directors of the '50s, '60s and '70s.
Her voice was considered to be very similar to Lata Mangeshkar which is why she was called in as a replacement for Lata in the mid '60s during the Rafi-Lata feud. She sang over 140 duets with Rafi in this period.
She was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India on 26 January 2023.
Lata had refused to sing with Rafi over royalty issues and those songs were recorded by Kalyanpur with Rafi. She sang over 140 duets with Rafi.