Mahendra Kapoor was born in Amritsar, but soon moved to Mumbai. He was inspired by Mohammed Rafi and won the all-India singing competition early in his career. He sang many hit songs of yesteryears most notable being those for B.R. Chopra's Films (Dhool Ka Phool, Gumrah, Waqt, Hamraaz, Dhund etc.) and for actor/producer Manoj Kumar (Upkaar, Purab Aur Paschim etc.)