Leela had a gifted voice.Thiribuvana Manibhagavadhar the uncle of musician T. V. Gopalakrishnan. was her first guru. Later she learnt from Paththamadai Krishna Ayyar and Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer She trained under Rama Bhagavathar. Leela was trained in Carnatic music by doyens such as Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and Dakshinamoorthy Swami. Vadakkancheri Ramabhagavadhar was a very close friend of Menon.He settled down in Madras. Whenever he used to visit Ernakulam, he would invite Menon and Leela to come to Madras to learn music. The headmistress of the school in which Leela was studying advised her father to take Leela to Madras for further training in music.

Menon had an ambition of making his youngest daughter a singer.He made it his lifetime mission . Menon resigned his job in Ernakulam and took Leela to Madras in 1944. Both of them stayed with Vadakkancheri Ramabagavathar in Mylapore and the 10 year old Leela started learning in gurukula style. Her father was very particular that Leela should do sadhaka early in the morning. He saw to it that her sole interest was music.

In Madras,Leela had the opportunity of listening to the concerts of legendary singers like Ariyakkudi Ramanujam, S Ramanathan, GNB, Chembai and others. Leela said this 'kelvi gnanam' helped her in a long way in finetuning her music.and moulding her as a singer. Leela sang at many music competitions in the city winning prizes In 1946, Durgabai Deshmukh gave her the first concert in Andra mahila sabha .Leela was giving concerts in various places. Entry into the Film industry

Columbia Recording Company was looking out for a female voice and the manager Ganabathirama Iyer, recommended Leela. She was appointed as their artiste. This paved the way for her entry into the films.

In Tamil, Nandakumar was the first movie to introduce playback singing.A.V.Meiyappa chettiar came up with the innovative idea of replacing the soundtrack with another voice and the playback system was introduced in Tamil cinema in 1938. It was gradually accepted and many singers entered the movie world. “I was introduced at a time when the actresses were singing for themselves,” reminisces Leela.

When she landed in Madras she did not know Tamil or Telugu. She used to write the keerthanais in Malayalam and practice them to perfection. Once she started her career as playback singer she arranged for tutors and learnt other languages.

She was offered to sing for a Tamil movie in 1948. Her father was initially reluctant but later he was persuaded to accept. Leela made her debut as playback singer in the movie `Kanganam.' She sang her first song, ‘Sree Varalakshmi’, when she was just 13 years old. C.H. Padmanabhasastry was the music director of the film. She sang all the songs for the heroine in that film.

Kanganam was produced by G.B.Narayanan company. It was released on 10-6-1948. Story was by A.T.Krishnasamy. Lyrics by Kambadasan. K.R.Ramasamy,M.R.Saminathan,Menaka and P.R.Mangalam acted in that movie.

In 1948 she sang 'paaduka poonkuyile' for the Malayalam movie Nirmala. Balan made in 1938 was. the first Malayalam "talkie" with sound track. Mr.T.R Sundaram produced this film for Modern theatres, Salem, with S. Nottani as the director. The film starred Mr.K. K. Aroor, Mr. Alleppy Vincent, Smt. M. K. Kamalam. Mr. Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai wrote the screen play. The film ‘Balan’ produced by T. R.Sundaram was a melodrama with more Tamil influence than Malayalam.

In 1948, 'Nirmala was produced by P.J.Cherian and directed by P.V.Krishna Iyer.. ‘Nirmala’ (1948) was the first film to explore the possibility of music and songs in Malayalam cinema. The lyrics penned by the legendary Malayalam poet G.. Shankara Kurup set to Music by P.S.Diwakar became popular. From then on, the songs became an essential ingredient of Malayalam cinema. Telugu Movies

In 1949 Leela made her debut in Telugu Cinema singing in 3 films Manadesam, Keelu Gurram and Gunasundarikatha.

The legendary singer and music director Ghantasala (with whom Leela has sung the most number of songs) introduced Leela in Manadesam. Manadesam is remembered as Telugu megastar Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao's debut as a police inspector. He was paid 250 rupees as advance for remuneration.

The film was based on Vipradas, a Bengali novel. It was the first film made in Telugu, based on a Bengali novel. The film was produced by MRA films.(named after Meka Rajyalakshmi Anuradha, daughter of the Telugu actress, singer and producer of yester years Mrs.C.Krishnaveni and Mirzapuram Raja). Ghantasala Venkateswararao who was making strides as a singer was introduced to Krishnaveni; she was very much pleased with his voice and saw the potentials in him as a composer. Ghantasala was booked as the Music director for three of their productions – Manadesam, Keelu Gurram and Lakshmamma.

In Manadesam, Krishnaveni wanted to introduce all types of traditional songs of Andhra Pradesh, "Dhampudu paatalu, veedhi naatakaalu, bommalaatalu, jaanapada geethalu, burra kathalu etc", patriotic songs, devotional songs, etc. Ghantasala scored music very well. M.S.Ramarao sang for the hero C.H.Narayanarao.

Keelu Gurram [1949] starring Nageswara Rao Akkineni, Anjali Devi and directed by Raja of Mirzapur was a superhit.

Vauhini pictures Gunasundarikatha was produced by B.N.Reddy and directed by K.V.Reddy.The film was released on 29 Dec 1949. The film was an adaptation of Shakespere’s drama King Lear.Screenplay was by K.V.Reddy and Kamalaakara KameswaraRao. The film starred Sriranjani as Gunasundari, Vallabhajosyula SivaRam as Prince, the comedian Kasturi SivaRao, as cursed Prince, K. Malati and P. Santa Kumari as Gunasundari's wicked sisters. Dialogues and Lyrics by Pingali Nagendra Rao. Leela sang the songs for the heroine Sriranjani.

Songs of the film kalakala aa kOkilEmO, challani doravElE chandamaamaa, Sree tulasi jaya tulasi, ammaa mahalaxmi dayasEyavamma became hits .