k.s.chithra biography

She was born into a family of musicians. My father late Krishnan Nair was a well-known singer of yesteryears. His encouragement, single-minded dedication in giving me all the necessary training in my childhood days helped me a lot to develop into a playback artiste. Earlier lessons in music were given by my father himself.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION: Passed B.A. in music with first class and third rank from the University of Kerala and had completed M.A. in music.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER: I received a comprehensive training in Carnatic Classical Music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, Professor of Music at Kerala University under the national talent search scholarship. I have been initiated into the film music field by Mr. M.G. Radhakrishnan through his films like "Attahasam", "Snehapurvam Meera", "Nan Ekananu”, etc., I consider the opportunity to sing with Dr. K.J.Yesudas in live concerts all over India and abroad and also for his Tharangini Cassettes as a turning point in my career. Famous Malayalam Music Directors like Ravindran, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Kannoor Rajan and Johnson were also instrumental for my rise as a playback artiste in Malayalam films.

Legendary Music Director SHRI. ILAYARAJA gave me the big break into Tamil films through his film "Nee Tana Antha Kuil". I got my first National Award for the songs in the mega-hit film "Sindhu Bhairavi" tuned by Shri. Ilayaraja himself. I consider Shri. Ilayaraja responsible for my rise as a noted playback singer in all the four South Indian Languages. And also composers like Ravindran, Johnson, S.P. Venkatesh, Mohan Sitara, Kanoor Rajan, S.A. Rajkumar, M.S.Viswanathan, Shankar-Ganesh, K.V. Mahadevan, Sathyam, Chakravarthy, Keeravani, Ouseppachan, Koti, Deva, Manisharma, Hamsalekha to name a few were kind enough to give me chances in various South Indian Languages. I have sung in Hindi Films also for prominent music directors like A.R.Rehman, Anu Malik, Sandip Chowta, Vishal, Rajesh Roshan, Sandesh to name a few.

I got the opportunity to sing in other languages like Oriya & Bengali of late. Since 1984 I have recorded about 11000 film songs in various Indian Languages, and about 4000 non-film songs.