SHREYA GHOSHAL BIOGRAPHY

Biography

Shreya Ghoshal (born March 12, 1984) is an Indian singer. Best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, she also sings in other Indian languages including Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya^[2], Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.

Ghoshal's career began when she won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest as an adult. Her Bollywood playback singing career began with Devdas, for which she received National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer along with Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent.^[3] Since then, she has received many other awards. Ghoshal was also honored from the U.S. state of Ohio, wherein governor Ted Strickland declared June 26 as "Shreya Ghoshal Day".

Ghoshal was born to a Bengali Hindu family in Baharampur, West Bengal. She grew up in Rawatbhata, a small town near Kota, Rajasthan. Her father, Biswajeet Ghoshal, is a nuclear power plant engineer and works for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, and her mother is a literature post-graduate. At the age of four, Ghoshal accompanied her mother on the harmonium. She got training in Hindustani classical music by Maheshchandra Sharma in Kota. As a child, she won the children's special episode of the Sa Re Ga Ma (now Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) contest on Zee TV. Kalyanji, who also judged the competition, convinced her parents to move to Mumbai. She was trained by Kalyanji for 18 months and she continued her classical music training with Mukta Bhide in Mumbai.She studied at Atomic Energy Central School in Rawatbhata and Anushaktinagar, Mumbai. For graduation she enrolled at SIES College.

[edit]Career

Ghoshal caught the attention of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali when she participated in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for a second time, this time as an adult.^[3] In 2000, Bhansali offered her the opportunity to be the voice of Paro, the lead female character of the film Devdas, that was portrayed by Aishwarya Rai.^[3] Ghoshal sang five songs in the film. Her performance won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as Filmfare's RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. She also won the National Film Award for the song "Bairi Piya".^[8]

She has received State Film Awards from Malayalam and Tamil industries and Filmfare awards in Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu industries. She debuted in South through the song "Yen Chellam" in Vasantha Balan's Tamil film Album and she got response after singing "Munbe Vaa" from Sillunu Oru Kaadhal under composer A. R. Rahman.^[9] She debuted inMalayalam through a studio album of composer Alphons Joseph and later gave voice to his song "Vida Parayukayano" from Big B.^[10] Her songs in Malayalam film Anwar became hits in Kerala and topped many charts for weeks. In 2010, Ghoshal sang for the English independent film When Harry Tries to Marry.

She has also been a judge for Star Voice Of India-Chhote Ustaad with singer Kunal Ganjawala and composer Pritam.^[11] Ghoshal was one of the three judges in X Factor (India) with Sonu Nigamand Sanjay Leela Bhansali.^[12]

[edit]Screen

• 2003: Ghoshal made an on-screen appearance in the Saaya film song "Har Taraf"
• 2011: First advertisement for jewellery store Joyalukkas in 5 languages (Hindi,^[13] Malayalam,^[14] Kannada,^[15] Tamil,^[16] Telugu^[17])
• 2012: Ghoshal appeared as the celebrity judge for Josco Indian Voice (season 1) in Malayalam channel Mazhavil Manorama along with Sreenivas and Sujatha Mohan.