One of the most successful artists in current generation is affable Shankar Mahadevan. An artist with numerous talents, Shankar has carved a niche for himself in tough world of Indian music industry. Born in Chennai, he is not only a playback singer but also successful composer and pop singer. His talent truly knows no bounds. As a music director he works with Ehsaan and Loy in the famous trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. He is an accomplished singer in Tamil music and equally popular in Hindi cinema.

Right from his childhood, Shankar Mahadevan showed glimpses of his talent. He was introduced to Indian Classical Music and Carnatic music at an early age and he took it like a fish takes to water. Astonishingly he started to play Veena at an age of just five. He is an engineer by profession and composer by choice. He left his successful career in IT company and dared to venture into competitive world of Indian music. Now, we all know how wonderful that decision was. During the initial phase of his musical journey he won an award as best Playback singer and subsequently also won National Film Award for the movie Kandukondain Kandukondain. He sings in several languages like Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Marathi.

Shankar Mahadevan has also released pop album called ‘Breathless’. He has also collaborated with other artists like Fusion-Jazz band SILK with Louis Banks on Keyboards, Sivamani on percussion and Sridhar Parthasarathy on Mridangam. Shankar Mahadevan has won several awards. He is a recipient of Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Award, National Film Award for Best Playback Singer, several Filmfare awards like Best Music Direction, Best Background Music, Best singer award etc.

Deva’s most popular songs have come from movies like Aasai, Citizen, Kaadhal Kottai, Chocolate, Kaalamellam Kaadhal Vaazhga, Annamalai, Dum, Avvai Shanmugi, Chokka Thangam, Bhagavathi, Basha and Devadhayai Kanden. A recipient of many awards, Deva has got a large fan following. His first came in 1990 when he won Tamil Nadu State Film Award. Thereafter he has won Tamil Nadu Government’s Kalaimamani Award and several other awards from popular journals.  

Deva had struggled to make his mark in film industry. During his initial days, he worked in the Television field. He belonged to a family of musicians. Even his brothers were working in the musical troupes of Illayaraja and other music directors as instrumentalists. But Deva took his own sweet time to develop his skills and wanted to make his mark in an individual capacity. But the struggling period was long. Even the initial music assignments received by him did not materialize and films had to be shelved. Finally, all his hard work came to fruition when he signed his first movie, Manasukkeththa Maharaasaa. This movie was followed by Vaikaasi Poranthaachu and this movie turned his life forever. Its songs were huge hits and thereafter he never looked back. Deva has also dabbled into other regional movies and proved to be a huge hit.