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Asha Puthli

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Asha Puthli
Puthli in 2024
Puthli in 2024
Background information
Born (1945-02-04) February 4, 1945 (age 80)
Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
(now Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Genres
OccupationSinger
Years active1970–present
Labels
Websitetheashaputhli.com

Asha Puthli (born February 4, 1945) is an Indian-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress.

Puthli moved to New York from Mumbai with a dance scholarship, a demo tape of Indo-Japanese fusion songs. In 1970, she was signed to CBS Records and subsequently released several solo albums. Praised as a "fusion pioneer" by The New York Times, her recordings cover blues, pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, and techno.[1] She also starred in films by Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, and Bruno Corbucci. In 2025, Puthli was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.[2]

Early life and education

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Puthli was born into a Hindu family on February 4, 1945. Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a homemaker.[3] They had fought in the Indian independence movement and owned Bombay Woollen Mills.[4] Her aunt is Indian freedom fighter Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.[5]

Like many upper-middle-class Hindu children at the time, she attended English-speaking Catholic schools.[6] Puthli began training at an early age in Indian classical music and opera. She listened to jazz and pop music on the radio, which led to her interest in fusion.[7] At thirteen, she won a contest in which she sang "Malagueña". The victory encouraged her to begin improvising with a jazz band at local tea dances. Ved Mehta described her singing in his book Portrait of India.[8] She went to a university in Mumbai.[9]

Career

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She appeared in her first film, shot by Indian director Mani Kaul in 1968.[citation needed]

Puthli, who had studied Bharatanatyam and Odissi, was able to make her way backstage and secure an audition in New York for the Martha Graham School's modern jazz dance course when the American modern dancer Martha Graham's dance troupe visited India on tour.[4] However, she lacked a passport and would have to audition in New York. Her friend who worked as a flight attendant for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) informed her one day that they were conducting interviews for potential future hiring. After meeting the general manager, Puthli received an immediate job offer.[4] "I couldn’t get the scholarship unless I went to America to audition, and I couldn't get to America without a scholarship," she recalled.[4] She accepted the job in order to obtain a passport and for her training, she spent two months in London, where she later recalled she "would get to hear real jazz".

After resigning and moving to New York in 1969, she succeeded in her dancing audition and was awarded a one-year scholarship at the Martha Graham School.[4]

In 1970, John H. Hammond at Columbia had read Ved Mehta's portrait of her in Jazz in Bombay.[7] After hearing a rough demo, he signed her to CBS Records. She sang lead vocals on the Peter Ivers Blues Band's cover version of "Ain’t That Peculiar", which was reviewed favorably in Cashbox, Rolling Stone, and Billboard. The single, released in 1971, entered the Billboard charts. Take It Out On Me, the band's album featuring Puthli, was finally released in 2009.[10][6]

Hammond sent her to audition for avant-garde jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who was looking for a singer for his album Science Fiction (1971).[11] For the album, Puthli sang on two songs, "What Reason Could I Give" and "All My Life".[7] For her work on Science Fiction, she shared the DownBeat Critics' Poll award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist.[12]

Puthli became part of pop artist Andy Warhol's Factory scene.[13] Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn was her close friend and roommate, and together they starred in Bad Marion's Last Year (1971), directed by Gene Ayres.[14][13]

She continued acting with a lead role in Merchant Ivory's Savages (1972), which was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and banned in her homeland.[13] Her popularity grew in Europe, where she signed a record deal with CBS.[15] Her music reflected her interest in pop, rock, soul, and funk. She gravitated toward the glam world of Elton John and T. Rex. Her debut Asha Puthli (1973) was produced by Del Newman, and it included cover versions of songs by JJ Cale and Bill Withers. She hired Pierre LaRoche (makeup designer for David Bowie and Freddie Mercury) and photographer Mick Rock to shoot the cover.[16] The album included a disco version of "I Am a Song" by Neil Sedaka.[17]

Her third solo album, The Devil is Loose (1976), was called an instant classic by The New York Times. Music critic Robert Palmer called her singing "extraordinary".[18] Thom Jurek of AllMusic called it " a masterpiece of snakey, spaced-out soul and pre-mainstream disco."[19]

Puthli interviewed Gayatri Devi, the Maharani of Jaipur, for Warhol's Interview magazine in 1977.[20]

Her sense of fashion brought her visibility. She was a fixture at Studio 54 and dressed by designers Michaele Vollbracht and Manolo Blahnik and photographed by Richard Avedon and Francesco Scavullo.

By the end of the decade, she returned to acting and has a lead role in Bruno Corbucci's The Gang That Sold America (1979).[16]

Puthli's music never quite found a place in the American mainstream, despite having sold well in Europe. In the 1980s, she went into semi-retirement. She sang on Hey Diwani, Hey Diwani by Dum Dum Project in 2001 and Asana Vol. 3 by Bill Laswell in 2003. In 2005, she returned to the UK charts with "Looking Glass" from the album Fear of Magnetism by Stratus.

In August 2006, Puthli headlined Central Park Summerstage in New York City on an eclectic bill with DJ Spooky, Talvin Singh, Outernational, and Prefuse 73, and special guests Dewey Redman and Dres (rapper) of the hip-hop group Black Sheep.[21]

In 2021, British independent label Mr Bongo Records reissued her 1976 album The Devil is Loose, and followed it up with a 20-track anthology in 2022.[4]

Personal life

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In 1980, as her US student visa was about to expire, Puthli approached a man outside the Museum of Modern Art in New York and proposed marriage.[13][4] The man, Marc Goldschmidt, agreed, and the two would eventually have a son born in February 1975 before their divorce in 1981.[4][13]

Legacy

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Her song "Space Talk" from the 1970s, a popular tune with David Mancuso's The Loft crowd, has been sampled by P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., Dilated Peoples, Governor featuring 50 Cent, and Redman; and her cover of George Harrison's "I Dig Love" was sampled in 2005 for the chart-topping track "Reload It" by UK MOBO Award-winner Kano. She has co-writer credits with Jay-Z, P. Diddy, The Neptunes, Jermaine Dupri, SWV, and The Notorious B.I.G. on the track "The World is Filled" from the multi-platinum album Life After Death.[16]

Accolades

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In 2013, the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles featured a display of Puthli's albums and wardrobe.[22]

In 2025, Puthli was honored by the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.[2]

Discography

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  • Asha Puthli (CBS, 1973)
  • She Loves to Hear the Music (CBS, 1975)
  • The Devil Is Loose (CBS, 1976)
  • L'Indiana (CBS, 1978)
  • 1001 Nights of Love (Autobahn/Philips 1979)
  • I'm Gonna Kill It Tonight (Autobahn 1980)
  • Only the Headaches Remain (Woorell 1982)
  • Hari Om (Sony 1990)
  • Lost (Kyrone 2009 )
  • ‘’Je crois c’est ca l’amour’’ (MKMM 2021)

As guest

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References

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  1. ^ Powers, Ann (April 30, 2001). "Critic's Notebook; From India, Many Sounds, All Pulling Inward". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b Grein, Paul (2025-06-18). "Janis Ian, Brenda Russell, Vicki Peterson & More to Be Honored by Women Songwriters Hall of Fame". Billboard. Retrieved 2025-06-22.
  3. ^ Khurana, Suanshu (10 February 2019). "Asha Puthli: Lady sings the blues". The Indian Express. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kappal, Bhanuj (2024-06-27). "At 79, musician Asha Puthli is gearing up to hit the road for her first world tour in 40 years". GQ India. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
  5. ^ Kothari, Sunil (29 October 2018). "Asha Puthli: jazz legend comes to Mumbai to spellbind music lovers". The Asian Age. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b Montague, Joe. "Asha Puthli Is In The Studio Recording Once Again". Riveting Riffs. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Marmorstein, Gary (2007). The label: The story of Columbia Records. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-1-56025-707-3.
  8. ^ Jhaveri, Niranjan, "Features" in Jazz Forum: The Magazine of the European Jazz Federation, No.17 (3/72), June 1972, page 69.
  9. ^ Murchison, Gayle (2015). "Puthli, Asha". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2276309. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  10. ^ Frank, Josh, and Charlie Buckholtz. In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008, p. 80.
  11. ^ Huey, Steve. "Science Fiction". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  12. ^ Pareles, Jon (August 12, 2006). "Asha Puthli, an Indian Singer Who Embraces Countless Cultures". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d e Hutchinson, Kate (2024-07-14). "'I sexed it up': 1970s disco queen Asha Puthli on Warhol, Dali and influencing Donna Summer". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
  14. ^ Woodlawn, Holly; Copeland, Jeffrey (Jeffrey Kenneth) (1992). A Low Life in High Heels: The Holly Woodlawn Story. New York: HarperPerennial. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0-06-097512-8.
  15. ^ Bush, John. "Asha Puthli". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  16. ^ a b c Pareles, Jon (12 August 2006). "Asha Puthli, an Indian Singer Who Embraces Countless Cultures". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  17. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Asha Puthli". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  18. ^ Palmer, Robert (July 30, 1976). "Mardi Gras Indians-And a Sound Like Raga Meeting Aretha Franklin". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Jurek, Thom. "The Devil Is Loose". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  20. ^ Puthli, Asha (October 1977). "Maharani of Jaipur". Interview. 7 (10): 16.
  21. ^ Sisario, Ben (August 11, 2006). ""Listings: Asha Puthli, Prefuse 73, Talvin Singh (Sunday)"". The New York Times.
  22. ^ Sobieski, Elizabeth (2013-08-27). "Asha Puthli at the GRAMMY Museum". HuffPost. Retrieved 2025-06-22.
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