The first time I heard of Asha Bhosle was when she became the subject of Cornershop’s chart-topping song Brimful Of Asha. I dare say the same is true of you.

The record-breaking Queen of Bollywood playback singers claims a Guinness World Record as the most-recorded singer in history, with around 12,000 songs.

She remained an obscure name to the world outside India and its diaspora, even when Cornershop released Brimful Of Asha as a single in 1997.

A tribute to Bhosle, and to Bollywood movies, and to the joy of collecting vinyl 45s, it was not a hit, peaking at a lowly No.60 in the singles chart.

And that might have been that, unless you bought the third Cornershop album, When I Was Born For The  7th Time, which contained a slower, longer version with a few extra lyrics, until Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, remixed it a few months later.

Sped up significantly, with some dance-friendly samples, this time the song caught the nation’s imagination, aided by that chorus line – “Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow” – and it topped the singles chart.

I’d like to end by saying it sparked a huge surge in interest in Asha Bhosle’s own music from indie fans but I fear that would be not only an exaggeration, but a falsehood.

Cornershop continue to make music that is always inventive and interesting, and singer Tjinder Singh, who lives around the corner from me can frequently be seen in and around the neighbourhood.

Disappointingly, I have yet to run into him actually in the corner shop, but I live in hope. Unlike Ms Bhosle, who has died at the age of 92.

RIP Asha Bhosle (1933-2026)