Versatile singer KK died on May 31 after his concert in Kolkata. The 53-year-old singer performed at Nazrul Mancha for a college event, post which he started to complain of uneasiness and chest pain. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival. According to reports, the singer suffered from a heart attack.
While people are still trying to cope up with the news, his former college bandmate Gautam Chikermane shared some heart-warming stories of KK from his initial days and the challenges he faced during the early stage of his career.
Though, KK rose to fame with the song Tadap Tadap Ke from the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), and his album Pal, his musical journey started in Delhi’s Kirori Mal College, where he was the lead singer and drummer for the college band Horizon.
Gautam shared when life had hit him, he began to sell typewriters for a living but his ‘soul could not take it’. So, he left the job and “started singing in hotels”.
He recalled, “He told me how, when life hit him, he began to sell typewriters for a living. His soul couldn’t take it, his swadharma lay in a parallel universe—in chords and beats; melodies and lyrics; lights, sounds and performances.”
“He left the job and started singing in hotels. He said it was not a great experience to have people eating and drinking while the band sang. After 10 minutes or so, he said, “we would play for ourselves. That kept us going,” he added.
In a long Twitter thread, Gautam recounted about the stories narrated by KK to him about the industry at the time when he was still trying to make his place in Bollywood. He wrote, “Bombay was the next logical destination and Bollywood and the ad industry his arenas of expression. He told me about his struggles and successes, challenges and victories. He told me stories about musicians and breaks, voice modulations and practice sessions.”
“We stood at the end of Marine Drive and he said, you know I came here and stood exactly here on this spot and looked at these lights and wondered if Bombay would give me space. It did — Bombay became Mumbai and our KK became India’s KK,” his tweet reads.
KK collapsed after the concert and was rushed to a private hospital. He was ‘brought dead’ to Kolkata’s CMRI hospital around 10 pm, according hospital authorities. He is survived by his wife and children.
