Born as Alokesh Lahiri on 27 November 1952 in Kolkata, West Bengal, Bappi D Lahiri came from a family of trained music artists and was brought up in a rich tradition of classical music. He began his musical training at a very young age. With a career as a music composer and singer that spans over four decades, Lahiri has made his mark in Indian cinema for fusing classical Indian musical notes with western beats. He has composed music for a number of regional film industries in languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Bhojpuri. Lauded for his distinctive style of composition, he gave a number of blockbuster hits in films such as Zakhmee (1975), Disco Dancer (1982), Dance Dance (1987), and Thanedaar (1990) among many others. Lahiri is best known for revolutionizing disco beats in Hindi films during the 1980s, a feat for which he earned himself the moniker of “Disco King” of the country. Bappi Lahiri's foray into the world of music was greatly inspired by his father, Aparesh Lahiri who was a famous Bengali singer and his mother, Bansari Lahiri who was a musician well versed in Shyama Sangeet. He is also the nephew of the renowned singer Kishore Kumar. Inspired by the veterans in his family and the training he received from them, at the age of nineteen, Lahiri moved to Bombay to make a professional career as a music composer. He got his first opportunity with the Bengali film Daadu (1972), and soon after he composed music for his first Hindi film, Nahna Shikari (1973). But it was Tahir Husain's Zakhmee (1975) that consolidated his place as a composer. Often doubling up as a singer for his compositions, Bappi Lahiri soon worked on a number of successful films such as Chalte Chalte (1976), Sahhas (1981) and Namak Halal (1982) thus establishing himself within the film industry.

During the 1980s, Lahiri became a pioneer of disco music in India and came to be associated with the genre of “disco films” that became very popular during the time. The garish sets of disco and outlandish costumes coupled with the neon lighting of the song sequences of these films were fused with the synchronized electro-disco beats of Lahiri's music. It was the trademark for the decade. His music became a defining feature for a number of actors during this period with several “dancing stars” of the time such as Mithun Chakroborty and Govinda. Lahiri's disco and cabaret songs in turn drew a large audience to the theatres. In 1989, he was invited by British television and radio presenter, Jonathon Ross for a live performance on BBC London. His music has been sampled in works of international artists such as Biddu, The Prodigy, Truth Hurts and Dr Dre.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Lahiri remixed a number of his songs which garnered him a retrospective cult status. His work in films such as Golmaal 3 (2010) and The Dirty Picture (2011) established his style template in the popular culture of the decade. In 2011, Lahiri released an international album titled, Walking on Love Street which featured American Idol contestant Shaun Barrows. He has also judged various musical talent based reality shows on television such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee TV) and K for Kishore (Sony Entertainment Channel). Apart from that, he has bagged a number of acting roles in films, the most recent being It's Rocking Dard-e-Disco (2012). Recently, Bappi Lahiri worked on the films Main Hoon (Part-Time) Killer (2015), and Mumbai Can Dance Saalaa (2015).

Lahiri has been honoured with numerous awards for his contribution to the Indian music industry. He got the China Award in Beijing for his work as a music director as well as the Filmfare Awards for the Best Music Director for Sharaabi (1984) and the Telugu film Gang Leader (1991). He also appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records for having recorded more than 180 songs in just a single year.