Mukesh Chand Mathur (Hindi: मुकेश चन्द माथुर) (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) was an Indian playback singer of Bollywood. Along with Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey, he dominated Indian film playback music from the 1950s to the 1970s. Born in Delhi, in a small middle class Punjabi family to Zorawar Chand Mathur, an engineer and Chand Rani.

He was the sixth in a family of ten children. The music teacher who came home to teach Mukesh's sister Sundar Pyari, found a pupil in Mukesh who would listen from the adjoining room. He had a younger brother Parmeshwari Das.

Mukesh left school after the 10th standard and worked briefly for the Delhi Department of Public Works. Mukesh experimented with voice recordings during his employment in Delhi and gradually developed his singing abilities. Mukesh's voice was noticed by Motilal, a distant relative of Mukesh, when he sang at his sister's wedding.

Motilal took him to Bombay, let him stay with him and arranged for singing lessons by pandit jagannath prasad for him. During this period, Mukesh managed to bag a role in a Hindi film, Nirdosh (Innocent) (1941). His first song was dil hi bujha hua ho to as an actor singer for Nirdosh.

He got his break as a playback singer for Actor Motilal himself in 1945 with the film Pehli Nazar'music by Anil Biswas & Lyrics by Aah Sitapuri' (First Look). The first song he sang for a Hindi film was Dil Jalta Hai to Jalne De (If the heart burns, let it burn), which was incidentally picturised on Motilal.

Similar to 0 things you like: