Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

films, while also having composed for a few films in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Life Time Achievement Award from

Konijeti Rosaiah Konijeti Rosaiah (4 July 1933 – 4 December 2021) was an Indian politician who served as the List of chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, 15th chief minister of United Andhra Pradesh from 2009 to 2010. He also served as the Governor of Karnataka ...

, the

Governor of Tamil Nadu The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by th ...

. Since 2001, he has won 6

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

and has received 20

nominations. He has also won 6 Mirchi Music Awards, 5 Vijay Awards, 4 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 3

International Tamil Film Awards The International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA) is an awards ceremony that honours excellence in Tamil language films around the world since 2003. History The awards began in 2003 and the awards honour films from the previous calendar year. Award ...

and Big FM Awards. In 2019, he was bestowed with the Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute

Honorary Doctorate of Letters An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...

for his significant contributions to Tamil cinema music.

Early life

Harris Jayaraj was born and brought up in Chennai in a pious

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

family. His father hails from a

Christian family and his mother from a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Naidu family. He studied at Krishnaswamy Matric School. At age six, Harris began his formal training in carnatic music. His father, S. M. Jayakumar, was a noted film guitarist and have frequently colabrated with

T. M. Soundararajan Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...

A. L. Raghavan A. L. Raghavan (1933 – 19 June 2020) was an Indian playback singer, who sang many songs in Tamil-language films. Biography Raghavan was born to a Saurashtra Brahmin family in Ayyampettai near Thanjavur to Lakshmana Bhagavathar, Raghavan e ...

M.S.Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

, Soolamangalam Sisters,

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as a ...

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...

Shankar Ganesh Shankar may refer to: People *Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer *L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * Sankar ...

S.P.Balasubramaniam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wid ...

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

, Malaysia Vasudevan,

L. R. Eswari Lourde-Mary Rajeswari, better known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi language, Hindi, Tulu language, Tulu, and English. She wa ...

, Jikki, K. Jamuna Rani,

P.Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

and Malayalam music director

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala * Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...

. Following two distressing bomb blast incidents he became more religiously inclined and young Harris had to take over the family responsibility. His father wanted him to become a guitarist and made him learn

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

from Mr. A. Abdul Sattar. Harris scored the highest mark in Asia on his 4th grade exam of

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

, London. He started his music career as a guitarist in 1987 at age twelve under M. S. Viswanathan's assistant Joseph Krishna. Harris could pursue his academics only up to High School, by then he always had problem with his attendance due to his recording sessions. Having been trained in

, Harris completed Grade VIII exams conducted by the Trinity College, London. Later he started playing

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and developed interest over

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. For this there was no tutor. He then started programming with his Roland MC-500 and went on to work as a

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

under more than twenty five music directors in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

and Oriya working in more than 600 projects till the year 2000. Between 1987 to 2000, he worked under noted composers including

Raj–Koti Thotakura Somaraju and Saluri Koteswara Rao, popularly known as Raj–Koti were Indian film music composers, singer-songwriters, record producers, musicians and multi-instrumentalists duo in Telugu cinema, In a notable career spanning a decade ...

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, Sadhu Kokila, Mani Sharma,

Karthik Raja Karthik Raja is an India composer based in Chennai, India. He made his debut as film composer in the Tamil film ''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films. Personal life Karthik ...

, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Sirpi,

Suresh Peters Suresh Peters (born 26 April 1968) is a multi talented artist in the field of Indian music. He is a music producer, a professional drummer, an award-winning music director in five Indian languages and a playback singer in multiple Indian langua ...

, Chandrabose,

, Ouseppachan,

Adithyan Aadithyan (birth name Titus; 9 April 1954 – 5 December 2017) was an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil films apart from working in Telugu and Malayalam films. He sang several songs for his o ...

and

Vidyasagar Vidyasagar or Vidya Sagar may refer to: People * Acharya Vidyasagar (born 1946), prominent Digambar Jain Acharya (1946-) *Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Bengali scholar *Vidyasagar (composer) (born 1963), South Indian music director *C ...

. In his early years as a musician, Harris have worked in movie soundtracks and film scores of various popular movies including Mudhalvan, Taj Mahal,

Jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

, Kandukondain Kandukondain,

Ullasam ''Ullaasam'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic film directed and co-written by the duo J. D. and Jerry and produced by actor Amitabh Bachchan. The film featured Ajith Kumar, Vikram and Maheswari with Raghuvaran, S. P. Balas ...

, Poovellam Kettuppar, Muthu, Padayappa,

Ratchagan ''Ratchagan'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written, produced by K. T. Kunjumon, and directed by Praveen Gandhi. It stars Nagarjuna and Sushmita Sen, alongside Raghuvaran, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vadivelu and Gir ...

, Aravindhan, Indian,

Seevalaperi Pandi ''Seevalaperi Pandi'' is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language biographical crime action film directed by Pratap Pothen and written by K. Rajeshwar. It is based on the life of the Indian criminal of the same name. The film was released on 24 June 1994, a ...

and Asuran. While working as an additional programmer under A. R. Rahman, he composed music for various television commercials including a Coca-Cola commercial featuring actor Vijay. In his early years, he admired music composers M. S. Viswanathan,

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

, A. R. Rahman, Salil Chowdhury, and Hans Zimmer.

Film career

Harris debuted as a composer with Gautham Vasudev Menon's '' Minnale''. The album was well received, particularly the song ''Vaseegara'' was exceptionally popular. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil for his work in ''Minnale'', breaking the 9 years continuous record of A. R. Rahman. The following soundtrack albums ''

12B ''12B'' is a 2001 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romance film directed and written by cinematographer Jeeva (director), Jeeva; it is his directorial debut. The film stars Shaam (actor), Shaam in his debut, with Simran (actress), Simran a ...

'' and '' Majunu'' met with high acclaim and praise. He also composed for the Hindi remake of '' Minnale'' titled ''

Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein ''Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein'' () also known by the initialism RHTDM is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring R. Madhavan, Dia Mirza and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles. The film ...

'', also directed by Gautham Menon. Most of the tunes from the Tamil version were retained in the Hindi version too, and only two fresh tunes were composed. He then worked in '' Lesa Lesa'' directed by Priyadarshan. The title track of '' Lesa Lesa'' was the first song in India to be released as a single prior to a film soundtrack album release. Harris made his debut in Telugu cinema with '' Vasu''. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil,

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil ( Tamil Movie Industry) feature films. Both Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman have won this award fo ...

and

ITFA Best Music Director Award The ITFA Best Music Director Award is given by the state government as part of its annual International Tamil Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The award was first given in 2003. The list Here is a list of the award winners and the films fo ...

for '' Kaakha Kaakha'', starring

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numerou ...

and Jyothika. This film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon was a huge commercial success and the songs met with great critical acclaim. In its Telugu remake '' Gharshana'' two new songs apart from the Tamil version were added to suit the taste of Telugu audience. The song ''Uyirin Uyire'' reused as ''Cheliya Cheliya'' in Telugu and ''Khwabon Khwabon'' in Hindi had effective use of gibberish words which later became a signature element in Harris songs. Harris once again paired up with director Jeeva on ''

Ullam Ketkumae ''Ullam Ketkumae...'' () is a 2005 Tamil-language romantic drama film directed and co-written by Jeeva, with dialogues by Sujatha. The film stars Shaam, Arya, Laila, Asin and Pooja as five college students. The film's score and soundtrack a ...

'' after ''12B''. The music was appreciated for its excellency and synergy with the atmosphere in and out of the movie. Director S. Shankar, noted leading director of Tamil cinema, paired up with Harris in his magnum opus '' Anniyan''. It was the first time Shankar did not team up with A. R. Rahman. Shankar later mentioned that working with Harris was an experience. The

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

received several awards including

and Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil. The next film he scored was '' Ghajini'' directed by

AR Murugadoss Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He is best known for directing action films mainly on ...

, for which he received

. Critics noted that the album had "scintillating, party-hopping numbers", which resulted in a huge commercial success in audio sales; the track "Sutum Vizhi" crossed 20 million downloads and turned out to be phenomenally successful. Harris crafted a necessary classiness into Gautham Menon's blockbuster crime thriller ''

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu ''Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jyothika, and Kamalinee Mukherjee in prominent roles, while Prakash Raj, D ...

'' starring

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

. Gautham revealed that he shares the entire script with Harris and provides input's from his side.

"Harris and I, when we work together, we put in a lot of effort. I give him the entire script. I give him inputs. When we sat down for ''Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'', I told him to do away with the traditional pallavi- charanam format in the ''Manjal veyyil'' song."

Harris once again ventured into Telugu films with a successful album ''

Sainikudu ''Sainikudu'' () is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language political action drama film written and directed by Gunasekhar, with music composed by Harris Jayaraj. It stars Mahesh Babu and Trisha. Irrfan Khan, in his only South Indian film, plays the antag ...

''. The music album of the film was released simultaneously in 10 chosen venues from five different countries. Gautham Menon who considers the music and background score of Harris as a major asset of his films, once again teamed up with Harris on a romantic-thriller ''

Pachaikili Muthucharam ''Pachaikili Muthucharam'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It is based on the 2005 British-American thriller film '' Derailed''. The film stars Sarathkumar and Jyothika, while Andrea J ...

''. The soundtracks of Pachaikili Muthucharam are appraised as melancholic, lilting, mysterious, and alternatively catchy. Harris' collaboration with Jeeva continued with ''

Unnale Unnale ''Unnale Unnale'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film.The movie is directed and co-written by Jeeva and produced by Oscar Ravichandran. It stars Vinay, Sadha and Tanisha Mukherjee in lead roles; Srinath, Raju Sundaram and S ...

''. The music album oozing with energy all through proved to be a cut above the rest. His next Telugu venture '' Munna'' had a good commercial reception, and the song ''Manasa'' fetched a Filmfare Best Singer Female award to Sadhana Sargam. With the following album ''

Bheema In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Af ...

'', Harris continued his mettle with all the six songs. The track ''Siru Parvaiyalae'' used Pashto words in interludes. The album was praised for bringing up visual recapitulation from audio. Harris used a live orchestra of 84 members for the action cop film '' Sathyam''. In 2009, Harris Jayaraj was signed in for Vikram Kumar's ''24'', which was to star Vikram. He was also signed in for the

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ...

''Yoddha 2'', starring Mohanlal. But both films were subsequently shelved. In '' Anegan'', Harris's "Danga Maari Oodhari", featuring lyrics in North Madras slang become an instant chart-buster. After a hiatus of 6 years, Harris collaborated with Gautham Vasudev Menon for the action cop film '' Yennai Arindhaal''. The soundtrack received positive reviews from critics and according to Behindwoods, it was the most played album of 2015 in Chennai radio stations.

Live in concert

In 2011, Harris announced his first musical world tour titled "Harris on the Edge". The tour featured live performance of Harris all over the world accompanied by a troupe of Tamil playback singers, including Karthik,

Haricharan Haricharan Seshadri, known mononymously as Haricharan (born 20 March 1987), is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, playback singer, and musician who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu music and cinema. He sung 2000 songs in films, albu ...

Chinmayi Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, television presenter, radio jockey, and an entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company ...

, Tippu,

Harini Harini may refer to: * Harini (singer), South Indian film playback singer * Harini (Kannada actress) Harini is a former actress in the Kannada cinema. She was active during the 1950s and 1960s, retiring at the peak of her career. As of 2006 sh ...

Naresh Iyer Naresh Iyer (born 3 January 1981) is an Indian playback singer. Born Mumbai, Iyer is fluent in Malayalam,Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Marathi. Naresh Iyer has rendered 2000 film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to hi ...

Harish Raghavendra Harish Raghavendra (born 7 December 1976) is an Indian Tamil vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. He is the son of photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like ''Hey Azhagiya Theeyee'' from Minnale, ''Nirpadhuve N ...

, Krish, Aalap Raju, KK, Benny Dayal,

Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

Suvi Suresh Suvi Suresh (born as Swetha Suresh on 26 September 1987) is an Indian singer with Sri Lankan roots. She was a member of the band S5 launched by the channel SS Music. She shot to fame with the song "Kodana Kodi" from '' Saroja'', composed by Yu ...

, Sunitha Sarathy, Srilekha Parthasarathy and Shweta Mohan and international musicians and dancers. The event was coordinated by ''Techfront'' and was directed by

A. L. Vijay A. L. Vijay, known professionally as Vijay, is an Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry. An assistant director with Priyadarshan, he debuted as director with films such as '' Kireedam'' and the critically acclaimed ''Madr ...

. The tour kick started in Chennai on 8 October 2011, and later continued in Coimbatore on 23 December 2011 and in Dubai on 4 February 2012. The whole tour was covered by Jaya TV.

Studio H

Harris opened a new studio on 8 January 2017, called "Studio H". The studio consists of the latest audio recording systems and technology. The first song to be composed in the studio was Halena from

Iru Mugan ''Iru Mugan'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language science-fiction spy action thriller written and directed by Anand Shankar. Produced by Thameens Films, the film stars Vikram in double role alongside Nayanthara, Nithya Menen, Nassar, Thambi Ram ...

. The S3 soundtrack was the first project entirely composed here.

Guest appearances

* 2011 '' Ko'' - in song 'Aga Naga Naga'

Discography

Notes: * • Indicates languages of original release. * ♦ Indicates a film remade in another language with a different cast, retaining Harris as the composer. * # indicates the soundtrack album has one or more bonus songs composed by a different composer. * The movie ''Force'' has four songs composed by Harris. Film scoring is done by ''Sameer Phatarpekar'' with some themes having some of their melodies borrowed from the songs.

Lyricist

* 2011 - '' Engeyum Kadhal'' - Kulu Kulu Venpani * 2017 - ''

Singam 3 ''Singam 3'' (Shortened as ''Si3'' or ''S3'') is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari. A sequel to ''Singam II'' (2013) and the third film in the '' Singam film series'', it stars Suriya and Anushka Shetty, wher ...

'' - Hey Wi Wi Wifi

Ad jingles

He composed music for various television commercials including a Coca-Cola commercial featuring Vijay. In 2008, he composed for ''

Herova? Zerova? ''Herova? Zerova?'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language short docudrama produced by Suriya. Sponsored by the Ministry of Education of Tamil Nadu, the 5-minute film was directed by V. Priya with cinematography by K. V. Anand and music by Harris Ja ...

'' ad campaign which Suriya initiated under the Agaram Foundation, working to help children who drop out of school early in Tamil Nadu. With the Ministry of Education in Tamil Nadu, he created a short commercial video outlining child poverty, labour and lack of education, titled

. The film was written and produced by

Sivakumar Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his actin ...

and also starred

, Vijay,

R. Madhavan Ranganathan Madhavan (born 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who predominantly appears in Tamil and Hindi films. Madhavan has won four Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Madhavan ...

and Jyothika.

Personal life

Harris is married to Suma Jayaraj, the couple have a son named Samuel Nicholas Harris and a daughter named Karen Nikitha Harris, born in 2006. Nikitha is a

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

who made her debut through the song ''Vinnil Vinmeen'' for the movie '' Kaappaan'', and won a V4U Media award in 2020."MGR - SIVAJI Cinema Awards 2020 , Best Debut Singer"
Vasanth TV. 22 Feb 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

Awards and nominations

;Special Honours *2009: Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu *2015: Life Time Achievement Award from

, the

*2015: Maestro Award from the Ritz Style Awards 2015 *2019: Behindwoods Gold MIC Award for Icon of Inspiration - Setting New Precedents in Film Music *2019: Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute

;

*2001: Won – Best Music Director - ''Minnale'' *2003: Won – Best Music Director - ''Kaakha Kaakha'' *2005: Won – Best Music Director - ''Anniyan'' *2005: Won – Filmfare Special Award – South - ''Ghajini'' *2008: Won – Best Music Director - ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2009: Won – Best Music Director - ''Ayan'' *2002: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Vasu'' *2003: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Saamy'' *2004: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Gharshana'' *2005: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Ghajini'' *2006: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'' *2007: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Munna'' *2007: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Unnale Unnale'' *2009: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Aadhavan'' *2010: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Orange'' *2011: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Ko'' *2011: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''7aum Arivu'' *2012: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Thuppakki'' *2015: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Yennai Arindhaal'' *2016: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Iru Mugan'' ; Tamil Nadu State Film Awards *2003: Won – Best Music Director – ''Kaakha Kaakha'' *2005: Won – Best Music Director – ''Anniyan'' & ''Ghajini'' *2009: Won – Best Music Director – Kalaimamani Award *2011: Won – Best Music Director – ''Ko'' ; Vijay Awards *2008: Won - Best Music Director - ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2009: Won - Best Music Director - ''Aadhavan'' *2008: Won - Favorite Song of the Year - "Ava Enna" from ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2011: Won - Favorite Song of the Year - "

Enamo Aedho Enamo Aedho () is a song from the 2011 Tamil film '' Ko'', composed by Harris Jayaraj. The song was performed by Aalap Raju, Prashanthini, Sricharan, Emcee Jesz, with lyrics written by Madhan Karky, Sricharan, Emcee Jesz. The song was released a ...

" from ''Ko'' *2012: Won - Favorite Song of the Year - "Google Google" from ''Thuppakki'' *2007: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Unnale Unnale'' *2011: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Engeyum Kaadhal'' *2012: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Nanban'' *2011: Nominated - Best Background Score - ''Ko'' *2008: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Mundhinam" from ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2008: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Nenjukkul" from ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2009: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Hasili Fisili" from ''Aadhavan'' *2009: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Vizhi Moodi" from ''Ayan'' *2012: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Venaam Machan" from ''Oru Kal Oru Kannadi'' *2014: Nominated - Favourite Song of the Year - "Aathangara Orathil" from ''Yaan'' ; Vijay Music Awards *2011: Won - Best Music Director - ''Engeyum Kaadhal'' *2011: Won - Popular Song of the Year - "

" from ''Ko'' *2011: Won - Best Western Song - "Nangaai" from ''Engeyum Kaadhal'' ;

(ITFA) *2003: Won - Best Music Director – ''Kaakha Kaakha'' *2005: Won - Best Music Director – ''Ghajini'' *2008: Won - Best Music Director – ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' ; Mirchi Music Awards South *2009: Won – Best Album of the Year – ''Ayan'' *2009: Won – Mirchi Listeners' Choice for Best Album – ''Ayan'' *2010: Won – Best Album of the Year – ''Orange'' *2010: Won – Mirchi Listeners' Choice for Best Album – ''Orange'' *2010: Won – Mirchi Listeners' Choice for Best Song – "Nenu Nuvvantu" from ''Orange'' Mirchi Music Awards South#Jury awards *2011: Won – Best Song of the Year – "Enamo Aedho" from ''Ko'' ; Edison Awards *2009: Won – Best Music Director – ''Ayan'' *2011: Won – Best Music Director – ''Ko'' *2015: Won - Favourite Song of the Year - "Danga Maari" from ''Anegan'' *2015: Nominated - Best Music Director - ''Anegan'' ; South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) *2012: Won - Best Music Director – ''

Thuppakki ''Thuppakki'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by AR Murugadoss. Produced by Kalaippuli S. Thanu under his studio V Creations, and distributed by Gemini Film Circuit, the film stars Vijay and Kaj ...

'' *2015: Nominated - Best Music Director – '' Yennai Arindhaal'' *2016: Nominated - Best Music Director – ''

'' ;MGR Sivaji Cinema Awards *2019 - Best Music Director - ''Kaappaan'' *2019 - Mellisai Mannar M.S.Viswanathan Award ;Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards *2007 - Best Youthful Album of the Year- ''Unnale Unnale'' *2007 - Most Listened Song of the Year- "June Ponal" from ''Unnale Unnale'' *2008 - Best Romantic Song of the Year- "Anbe En Anbe" from ''Dhaam Dhoom'' *2008 - Best Album of the Year - ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2008 - Best Music Director - ''Vaaranam Aayiram'' *2009 - Best Romantic Song of the Year - "Vizhi Moodi Yosithal" from ''Ayan'' *2009 - Best Album of the Year - ''Aadhavan'' *2009 - Best Music Director of the Year - ''Aadhavan'' ;Big FM Awards *2010 – Best Music Director – ''Orange'' ; Big Tamil Melody Awards *2011 - Best Music Director - ''Engeyum Kaadhal'' *2011 - Best Album of the Year - ''Engeyum Kaadhal'' *2012 - Best Music Director - ''Nanban'' ;Chennai Times Film Awards *2011 - Best Music Director – ''Ko'' ;South Scope Awards *2008 – Most Stylish Music Director – ''Dhaam Dhoom'' *2009 – Best Music Director – ''Ayan'' ; Stardust Awards *2011: Nominated - Standout Performance by a Music Director - ''Force''

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayaraj, Harris 1975 births Living people Tamil film score composers Alumni of Trinity College of Music Tamil musicians Telugu film score composers Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award Musicians from Chennai Indian Tamil people Indian Christians People from Tamil Nadu Jingle composers Indian male film score composers 21st-century Indian composers