Vinayak Deorav Ambhaikar was born to Deorao and Bhimabai Ambhaikar on the 15th of March 1912 on the auspicious day of "Gudhipadwa" in the village of Mehekar in Buldhana district of Vidarbha.
Born in a music loving family, little Vinayak grew up listening to the gramophone records of various stalwarts at that time. No wonder, Vinayak was deeply influenced y the magic of music from a very tender age. By the age of five, Vinayak was able to himself sing and play along on the harmonium, many of the record songs.
Master Vinayak joined the famous "Bharat Gayan Samaj" at Nagpur for his first formal training in Indian Classical Music. He was very determined to do the "Riyaaz" even at the very tender age and never missed a chance to listen to various forms of music such as Bhajan, Kirtan, concerts etc. He was also very fond of various field athletics and theatrics. He participated in many school plays and received accolades for his participation and singing.
A moment to be engraved in golden letters soon arrived at the age of 14 when he had the fortune of sitting in the lap of Mahatma Gandhi and singing "Vande Mataram". Mahatma Gandhi blessed Master Vinayak and his singing and this made Vinayak positively obsessed with making new tunes for Vande Mataram, so much so that he spent next 25 years devoting his time and efforts in the movement of making "Vande Mataram" the National Anthem of India. The one tune that he persued many politicians such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and numerous Govt. officials with and left no stone unturned was the one set in Raag "Mishra Khambavati". His tune was widely acclaimed by the masses and the classes alike and was one of the strongest contenders to become the next National Anthem.
In 1928, Vinayak received his first Gold medal at a singing conference at Old Delhi. During those days, earning a glod medal was then considered as one of the highest means of appreciation of an artist. Vinayak gave his first Radio performance at the age of 19 and was invited to sing along with such stalwarts as Hirabai Badodekar and Omkarnath Thakur at a music conference held at Mumbai in 1933. Very next year, his first Gramophone record was released !
Vinayakrao became a well known name in the masses as well as the diginitaries and he had the good fortune of receiving praises from such eminent personalities as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, J. Krushnamurthy. He also got acquainted with stalwart vocalists and artists such as Master Krishnarao, Vinayakbuva Patwardhan, Abdul Karim Khan saheb, Nissar Hussain , Hirabai Badodekar, Mallikarjun Mansur, Gangubai Hangal, Omkarnath Thakur etc.
Vinayakrao later moved to Mumbai and joined HMV Company. He actively persued his singing while doing his job and received wide acclaims for his singing.
During his many years in Mumbai, he became a well known name in the field of music and joined the All India Radio (Akashwani), Mumbai. During his tenure, he was fortunate to become associated with many of the great personalities in Maharashtra , such as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Keshavrao Bhole, Raja Badhe, P.K. Atre, P. L .Deshpande, Mangesh Padgaonkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Vidhyadhar Gokhle to name a few.
Vinayakrao - the writer. Vinayakrao used his penning abilities to good effect as he wrote hundreds of articles on various subjects, letters to and articles for newspapers and books.
Vinayakrao - a patriot, freedom fighter and social activist All along since his childhood, Vinayakrao was a true nationalist and a patriot. He was actively involved in the 1942's Quit India movement. He used to be involved in the morning precession and would distribute bills and posters and sing patriotic songs. He was fortunate to be associated with freedom fighters such as Vinayak Sawarkar whom he considered an idol. Post freedom, he was later also actively associated with many leading politicians and social causes.