K.C. Dey

Who was K.C. Dey?

Krishna Chandra Dey, better known as K.C. Dey, was a Bengali actor, singer, music composer and teacher born in Calcutta. He was S.D. Burman's first musical teacher and mentor. In 1906, at the age of thirteen, he lost his eyesight and became completely blind. He worked for various theatre groups and finally went on to work for New Theatres in Kolkata until 1940. He is best remembered for his Kirtan songs. K.C. Dey recorded around 600 songs, mostly in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati and 8 Naats.

Dey sang and composed music for movies from 1932 till 1946. He also acted in movies in the same period. Dey used to travel from Calcutta to Bombay to take part in movies. In 1942 he moved to Bombay. Dey quit movies in 1946 after the quality of both his music and singing started going down. The blind singer died in Kolkata on November 28, 1962. Famous playback singer Manna Dey is his nephew.