Jassie Gift is an Indian film music composer and playback singer. He composes songs and sings for

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

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, nativ ...

and

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 ...

films. He became famous after the success of his song "Lajjavathiye" from the film '' 4 The People''. He won the Best Music Director award at The Bangalore Times Film Awards 2011.

Biography

Hailing from

Vithura Vithura, also known as the Hill City Of Trivandrum, is located 36 km from Thiruvananthapuram capital of the Kerala state in India. Vithura is the culmination of the crossroads to many tourist, cultural, and religious centres. Surrounded by ...

, Gift was born to Gift Israel and Rajamma. He was interested in music from childhood and was highly influenced by western music. He admired

Ilayaraja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

and was a fan of

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

. He had lessons in western

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

from a young age and started singing and playing the keyboard in local bands. He is a singer and keyboard player of the band Moby Dick. He entered the film music industry under the guidance of director

Jayaraj Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited as Jayaraj, is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry. He has won many awards, including Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden ...

. Before entering films he composed songs for a couple of albums in

, including the hit album ''Soona Soona'', and also composed jingles. He pioneered the use of reggae fusion music in the

music industry with the backing roots of Indian ragas. Gift's first film composition was for the movie ''Saphalam''. His songs written for the movie '' 4 The People'' became hits in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, especially "Lajjavathiye", and his music contributed to the success of the film, which became 2004's biggest Malayalam film. The film was later remade in

, and also as ''Malliswarive'' in

The song was successful in all languages. Gift mixed Indian and western music on the album, ''Rain, Rain Come again'', as well as the music for the Kannada film ''Hudugaata'', and the songs "Eno Onthara", "Mandakiniye" and "Ommomme Heegu". He has worked with many South Indian musicians such as

Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...

, Devisri Prasad,

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

, and

M M Keeravani Koduri Marakathamani Keeravani (born 4 July 1961; credited as M. M. Keeravani) is an Indian film composer, playback singer, and lyricist, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema along with other languages including Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Ma ...

, and

Anirudh Ravichander Anirudh Ravichander (born 16 October 1990), also known Mononymous person, mononymously as Anirudh, is an Indian film scorer music composer music producer singer and instrumentalist who primarily works in Tamil films. He is the son of actor Ra ...

, and collaborated with many music directors from south India. He composed songs for the movie ''Sanju Weds Githa'', sung by

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...

and

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

. Jassie Gift has a master's degree in Philosophy from

University College, Trivandrum University College, Thiruvananthapuram (UCT) is a constituent college of the University of Kerala, based primarily in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. The college was awarded 23rd rank by National Institutional Ran ...

, and a PhD in Philosophy from

Kannur University Kannur University is a multi-campus public university established in 1996 to provide development of higher education in Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad districts of Kerala, India. It serves the region of North Malabar. It was established after the ...

on the topic of "The Philosophy of Harmony and Bliss with Reference to Advaita and Buddhism".

Personal life

On 12 September 2012, Jassie married Dr Athulya, who accomplished a PhD in Information Technology/Physics from Kannur University. On 24 December 2021, Jassie Gift has been appointed as chairman of Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts.

Filmography

As a composer

As a singer

Kannada songs

Malayalam songs

Tamil songs

Telugu songs

References

External links

*
Hits of Jassi Gift
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gift, Jassie Indian male playback singers Malayalam film score composers Kannada film score composers Tamil film score composers Telugu film score composers Kannada playback singers Malayalam playback singers Filmfare Awards South winners Singers from Thiruvananthapuram Living people Tamil playback singers Telugu playback singers 21st-century Indian singers Film musicians from Kerala Indian male film score composers 21st-century Indian male singers 1975 births