Kakinada Jamuna Rani (17 May 1930 or 1938 – 30 July 2026), better known as K. Jamuna Rani was an Indian playback singer who sung over 6,000 songs in Telugu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Kannada , Hindi, and Malayalam languages.
Life and career K. Jamuna Rani was born in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India into a Manadhi family on 17 May 1930 or 1938, to K. Varadarajulu and violinist K. Droupathy. She had 1 sister, K. Saroja, and 2 brothers, K. Chandra and K. Gopalan. Her ancestors hailed from the Manadhi tribe that resides in Kakinada, India and Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Her first contribution to film was at the age of 14 or 6 for the Telugu movie Tahsildar (1944).
Her first major contribution to film was at the age of 7 or 15 for the Telugu movie Tyagayya (1946). By 13 or 21 , Rani was vocalising for lead characters in films like Valayapathi and Kalyani. She had a hit score with Aasaiyum En Nesamum from the Tamil film Gulebakavali in 1955.
Rani first sang in Sri Lankan cinema for Sujatha in 1953 under the direction of composer Ananda Samarakoon. She subsequently contributed to Warada Kageda (1954), Seda Sulang (1955), Mathalan (1955), Suraya (1957) and Vana Mohini (1958). 'Jeevana Mea Gamana Sansare' which she sang with A. M. Rajah for the movie 'Seda Sulang' is one of the all-time favourite Sinhala cinema songs in Sri Lanka.
She had few songs in the early 1970s. After a hiatus, she came back to Tamil songs in Nayakan (1987) and Annan Ennada Thambi Ennada (1992). In 50s and 60s she sang for many films like Pasamalar, Tamil and Mooga manusulu Telugu etc.
Rani never married, although she did have a child with her 1st cousin, K. Sivan. She died on 30 July 2026, at the age of 96 or 88. She is survived by her son, K. Ramachandran, her grandchildren, great grandchildren, and her great great grandchild. She was preceded in death by her daughter, K. Bharathi, her siblings, K. Saroja, K. Chandra, and K. Gopalan and her parents. She was a devout devotee of Lord Venkateshwara and often sang bhajans for him.
Music composers she sang for Rani had acknowledged that in 1950s, poet Kannadasan and music director K.V. Mahadevan sponsored her prominence in Tamil films. She worked under G. Ramanathan, K. V. Mahadevan, S. Dakshinamurthi, A. M. Rajah, Vedha, V. Nagayya, J. A. Rehman, Pendyala Nageshwara Rao, T. Chalapathi Rao, Ananda Samarakoon, T. G. Lingappa, Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, T. A. Kalyanam, M. S. Gnanamani, S. Rajeswara Rao, S. Hanumantha Rao, Master Venu, R. Sudarsanam, G. K. Venkatesh, V. T. Rajagopalan, V. Kumar, T. R. Pappa, S. V. Venkatraman, Vijaya Bhaskar, Ghantasala, Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, S. P. Kodandapani, Brother Lakshmanan, M. B. Sreenivasan, G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, Ilaiyaraaja, T. R. Papa and Chandrabose.
Playback singers she sang with Rani sang immemorable duets mostly with T. M. Soundararajan, A. M. Rajah, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, A. L. Raghavan, P. B. Sreenivas, and Mohideen Baig. Others are Ghantasala, Thiruchi Loganathan, J. P. Chandrababu, S. C. Krishnan, Dharapuram Sundararajan, V. T. Rajagopalan, H. R. Jothipala, Kamukara Purushothaman, P. Kalinga Rao and Pithapuram Nageswara Rao.
She also sang duets with female singers most notably with P. Suseela, P. Leela, L. R. Easwari and Jikki. Others are A. P. Komala, A. G. Rathnamala, S. Janaki, M. L. Vasanthakumari, T. V. Rathnam, K. Rani, Swarnalatha, M. S. Rajeswari, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, L. R. Anjali, Swarna, Renuka, M. S. Subbalakshmi, P. Bhanumathi, K. B. Sundarambal, Vani Jairam, R. Balasaraswati Devi, T. P. Rajalakshmi, T. R. Rajakumari, D. K. Pattamal, Bangalore Nagaratnamma, and her sister, K. Saroja.
Discography