Aruna Lama, popularly known as the Melody Queen, was born in 1945 in Darjeeling, India, in a small town called Ghoom.

She started singing from an early age. She attended St. Teresa’s School in Darjeeling and sang in many cultural programmes held at the school. Even at school, she had started to influence her friends and teachers with her melodious voice.

Later she started taking formal music lessons from musician Amber Gurung. Her tutor was so impressed with her singing that he gave her the title, ‘nightingale.’ Soon she gained a lot of fame and popularity. Her first recorded song immediately touched the hearts of people as it talked about youth and sadness. Then other songs followed which became instant hits. Despite her fame, she remained humble.

Aruna Lama married Sharan Pradhan, a musician, in 1963. When her husband died in 1974, she stopped singing for a while but singing was in her soul and the ‘nightingale’ couldn’t help singing again.

Aruna Lama died in New Delhi on 4 February 1998 and her body was brought to Kathmandu. Many musicians, singers and thousands of fans were there to mourn her death and pay their respects to their beloved ‘nightingale’.