The Original Diva: Asha Puthli | Artist Shoutout

Years before the iconic cone bra Madonna wore for her Blond Ambition tour, it was Indian jazz singer Asha Puthli who made it famous. What about Daft Punk who wore helmets at the Grammys. Puthli wore it in her music video Wild Samurai in 1981. With a four-octave range, conquering the East and West, the Indian born American has sung jazz, disco, rock and Indian music like no one ever did before.
Born into a conservative Hindu family from Mangalore, Puthli studied in a Catholic school and graduated with a B Sc degree from Baroda. Besides her late sister and her, no one from the family took to the arts. She pursued Indian classical music and classical dance too, and was fascinated by Opera and studied it from a teacher who gave her a European influence that would help her in the future.
Puthli all of 20 did a short stint as an air hostess and later headed to the US where she got a dance scholarship with the Martha Graham School, focusing her attention on music and soon making it big through sheer hard work. Her sultry vocals on avant garde jazz musician Ornette Coleman’s ‘Science Fiction’ album earned her the Downbeat critics poll award alongside Ella Fitzgerald.
In Europe she released her self - titled debut album in 1973 and three years later ‘The Devil Is Loose’ that went Gold. It was a full blown spacey disco sound that cemented her career with the song Space Talk, which was later sampled by P. Diddy, 50 Cent and Notorious B.I.G. Puthli added her Indian influences with tabla and sitar.
In December 2020, Puthli sang a duet with French singer Gabriel Grillotti on a song Je crois c'est ca l'amour. On 15th June she’s all set to release a jazz tribute album ‘All My Life’ dedicated to the legendary master composers for whom she has sung or recorded, namely, Ellington, Coleman and Hampton.
With 12 solo albums, films, TV shows, the Florida resident’s life and career have been nothing short of legendary.
⬇ Asha Puthli - The Devil Is Loose 1976:
⬇ Asha Puthli - Mister Moonlight:
⬇ Asha Puthli Flying fish rare Italy:
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