Srinivas

07 Nov, 1959 |

Singer/Music Director

Biography

Srinivas is an engineer who turned to playback singer for Indian films. He studied in Kerala and was coached in Carnatic music by his aunt. Early Life Srinivas had developed a fine ear for music early in his life. He was born in Ambasamudram to Duraiswamy Iyengar and Lakshmi. Growing up in Trivandrum, he followed the bhajan groups, who walked by the streets, singing devotional songs during the month of Margazhi. He started listening to Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. D. Ramanathan and others through his aunt Mrs. Padmanarayanan, his guru in music. The soul-stirring magic of Kishore Kumar-R.D. Burman deeply influenced him in his childhood days. He went to complete his B.Tech from Bombay University, Department of Chemical Technology; during which he represented his university in youth festivals. After pursuing his career as a chemical engineer for 10 years, his passion for music got the better of him. Career In 1988, Srinivas approached music maestro Ilaiyaraaja, who was at the helm of Tamil film music. He was offered the opportunity to work with Ilaiyaraaja, but things did not work out as he was suffering from severe throat infection that day. It was later in 1992, that the soundtrack of Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Roja reignited his dreams of playback singing. Mani Ratnam had introduced composer A. R. Rahman with this movie, who then went on to change the music scene in the Indian film industry. Encouraged by the use of fresh voices in Roja, Srinivas approached A.R. Rahman. Rahman took a liking to Srinivas's rendition of Mehdi Hassan's ghazals and offered him work at Chennai. In 1994, Srinivas shifted base to Chennai and started lending his voice to advertisement jingles and devotional albums. His first foray into playback singing began with the song Sorgam Enbathu Namakku from the movie Nammavar, composed by Mahesh. It went on to become a runaway hit. But it was only in 1996, that he gained recognition with the song Manna Madurai from A. R. Rahman's Minsaara Kanavu. Then came En Uyire in Mani Ratnam's Uyire (the Tamil version of Dil Se). This A.R. Rahman's song catapulted Srinivas to fame. Srinivas has sung for leading music directors like Ilayaraja, Deva, A.R. Rahman, and Vidyasagar, and in languages like Tamil, Malayalam, etc. He made a foray into music direction through the Tamil movie 'Ae Nee Romba Azhaga Irukke', in which he was one among the five music directors of the movie. And his composition 'Ini Naanum naanillai' in that film was a major hit. His famous albums include 'Ussele Ussele' and 'Paarvai'. Also, he has worked as a co-composer with Praveen Mani for "Little John". He has also composed music for a Malayalam film titled 'Seethakalyanam'.