Madras Lalithangi Vasanthakumari was a Carnatic musician [1 and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries, D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulakshmi, are popularly referred to as the female trinity of Carnatic music. A prime disciple of G. N. Balasubramaniam, she was the youngest among the established musicians of that era and was the youngest female to receive the Sangita Kalanidhi award. In 1967, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, by the government of India. Her daughter, the late K. Srividya, was an actress in Tamil and Malayalam.
As well as being a much sought-after playback singer for films, MLV popularized unfamiliar ragas, and her Ragam Thanam Pallavis were considered cerebral. Additionally, she popularized the compositions of the Haridasas. Her most famous disciples include Srividya, Sudha Raghunathan, Charumathi Ramachandran, and A. Kanyakumari.