Kundan Lal Saigal, a Punjabi, son of Tehsildar of the State of Jammu and Kashmir Amar Chand Saigal, was born at Jullundhar in 1904. His mother was apparently the major role player in his music life. But the young Kundan Lal, his mother discovered, was not merely musical as she was. He had a whole temperament that went along with his intense love for music. His total disinterest towards his studies, his lack of ambition, his dreamy entranced state of mind, all these were grievous disappointment to his father.

Saigal, at age 10, ventured his first acting role as Sita in the Ram Lila celebrations in Jammu. Saigal's father attended these celebrations. He took all these activities of his son in the Ram Lila as a diversion from which his son would soon be free.

Young Saigal at 11, as is described, had been blessed by a 'pir', Sheikh Salman Yousuf, when his mother went for guidance and blessing. Sheikh Salman told her not to worry about her son's education and predicted for him a great future of fame and universal adulation. Then he blessed the boy and ritually bestowed upon him a zikr and a riaz. He took Sheikh Salman's injunction to him literally in his life. The touch of that profound and transforming moment with Sheikh Salman and the two years of musical silence that followed created the man of immortal music.

After his father's retirement, the family moved to Jullundar. Before he made music and acting his vocation, Saigal had been a timekeeper in the Punjab railways. After that he had worked for a while as a typewriter salesman. He used to sing only within his circle of friends. Singing was his hobby. The credit for discovering Saigal goes to a representative of the Hindustan Recording Company. He correctly estimated the sales potential of the young man and bound him down to a life-long contract. This is why all his non-film songs were invariably issued during his lifetime, under the Hindustan label, although in later years his records of film songs appeared under H.M.V. Iabel. (Hindustan was a sister concern to H.M.V.) Years rolled by and Saigal continued to reach new heights of fame and popularity.

Those who claim to have been responsible for bringing Saigal into prominence include B. N. Sircar, owner of the New Theaters, Pankaj Mullick, a composer and an innovator in Indian music, R. C. Boral, Devaki Bose and Phani Majumdar. They all have been closely linked with Saigal's destiny as a singing star almost at the dawn of India’s talkie film history.

Entering New Theatres in 1931, Saigal became the national matinee idol. He was only about 26 years old when R. C. Boral, a scion of an illustrious tradition of composers and musicians, brought him to New Theaters and he was put on a salaried contract to star with Akhtari in its first talkie venture 'Mohabbat Ke Ansoo', an Islamic tale. He had by then changed his name to Saigal Kashmiri, so that his relatives may not track him down. The same name was used in the next two films, 'Subah Ke Sitare' and 'Zinda Laash'. Then came the story of 'Rami and Chandi' hat was a hit. But none of these films opened Saigal's path to fame until in 'Devdas'. This was followed by Chandidas, Street Singer, My Sister, President and Dushman that were all huge box office successes. He soon migrated to Bombay to win new laurels. Tansen, Surdas, Tadbeer, Parwana and Shahjehan were hugely successful with songs that have become immortal.

Saigal, during his lifetime, used to be the idol of the millions. He was known and loved across the land, even places and among people who did not understand the language in which he sang. His attraction arose out of the subservience of his singing technique to meaning, whether the meaning was the pure music of the raga or whether it was the poetry of the words. He rarely ever used his voice as a means whereby he could extol its range and timbre or show off his ability as a singer. It was Saigal who, for the first time in Indian music, welded the music to speech so smoothly, so inevitably, and without a trace of self-consciousness. He sang uncommonly well long before he came to the films. Saigal was all music. He lived it in his life as completely as anyone who has dissolved his existence in any art or craft or science has lived.

Ustad Faiyaz Khan described that Saigal had not entered music on account of the accident of a good voice. He believed that every bit of his musical insight had been acquired. He said, "Don't be carried away by all this talk of khuda in matters of this nature. khuda cannot help without the man he wants to help doing all the work that needs to be done. Of course he takes the credit."

He is referred as a "natural singer", or "his voice was born with him", or "golden voiced he was", and so on. He was one of the most vitally male singers of the Indian cinema in his manner of singing as much as his voice. He could never be knowing or wily, or self-conscious, about his music. He would not discourse about the technicalities of musical phrases or ragas or compositional intricacies. Since he himself admitted to the fact that he did not have the conventional training in music from a teacher, people thought that he did not know, and he did not seem concerned about establishing a reputation for being otherwise. So they took him to be a kind of freak, a phenomenon, a valuable money-spinner for India's infant cinema industry no doubt, but an odd bird. One more reason for this attitude towards him was because he placed no price on his music. He did not consider his music as a bit of property, an investment like a joint-stock company. He gave freely of his music, for there was more left from where it came from. It took him many years to realize how little capable he was to make his art yield him the highest material benefit. Music was his life and he was always a little surprised at the fact of it, and so never had a feeling of proprietorship over his art.

Pankaj Mullick described that Saigal’s voice was a tenor with a true pitch and a three-octave span. Again, he does not expatiate on the subject of the beauty of his voice. A true pitch and a three-octave span are not exactly rarities in Indian music although Saigal's voice is contended to be one, if that, in a million. There are others who also think of his voice in other terms.

Saigal's devotion to his work was far above that of any other artist. He had a heart of gold and was a faithful friend. He never turned away a needy fellow artist. On several occasions, he was seen dig into his pocket and give away all he had to some unfortunate person.

Saigal was married to Asharani and had two daughters. He died on January 18, 1947at the age of 42.He was probably a diabetic from a very early age for he suffered excruciatingly from carbuncles all his life and used to be in great pain often. But in the end he was far gone irretrievably lost to liver disease, which was diagnosed as cirrhosis. People said it was his drinking that killed him early. At his wish before dying, the song "jab dil hi toot geya, hum jee ke keya karenge" was played all the way with his arthi's journey.

Reference: K. L. Saigal: The Pilgrim of the Swara (Author: Ragava R. Menon)