Ranjith K. Govind (born 21 February 1977), also known as K.G. Ranjith, is an Indian playback singer, working in the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

film industries and has sung more than 2500 songs.

Early life

Ranjith was born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India into a Malayali family, hailing from Kalluvazhi, Kerala. He grew up listening to various kinds of music. He used to stay in a locality where there were many Keralites, and had a chance to participate in the local programs there. Later, a family friend suggested that he be trained in classical music. He learned

Hindustani music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

and

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

. He was trained by Vidwan Cuddalore Subramanian, K. S. Kanakasingam, Trichur P. Ramankutty and P. S. Narayana Swamy. He became popular when he won the Sun TV Saptha Swarangal singing contest in 2001. He is married to a trained Bharata Naatiyam dancer, Reshmi Menon. He has a daughter and a son.

Career

Mani Sharma Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

introduced Ranjith as a playback singer, calling him to sing the song "Adugu Adugu" for the Telugu film ''

Bobby Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a constabl ...

'' (2002) alongside accomplished singer, Hariharan. Ranjith's first Tamil song was "Hey Penne" from ''

Aasai Aasaiyai ''Aasai Aasaiyai'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Ravi Mariya. This film was the debut of famous producer R. B. Choudary's fourth son, Jiiva. The female lead role was done by Sharmelee. The music was composed by Mani ...

'' (2002), also composed by Mani Sharma. However, the song which gained Ranjith popularity was "Suppose" from the film ''

Sukran ''Sukran'' is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written, produced and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijay in an extended cameo as the title character with Ravi Krishna and Anita Hassanandani. The music was co ...

'' (2005). In 2007, he sang his first song in his mother tongue Malayalam, "Innoru Paattonnu Paadaan" for the film ''

Kilukkam Kilukilukkam ''Kilukkam Kilukilukkam'' () is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film directed by Sandhya Mohan and written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas. It is a sequel to the 1991 film '' Kilukkam''. The film stars a new cast of Kunchacko Bo ...

''. Ranjith was nominated for the Best Male Playback Singer prize in the Telugu category at the

56th Filmfare Awards South The 56th Filmfare Awards South ceremony honored its selection of the best 2008 in film, South Indian films of 2008 and was held on Friday, 31 July 2009, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India. Nominations The nominees for the 56th Filmf ...

for the song "Entavaraku" from ''

Gamyam ''Gamyam'' () is a 2008 Indian Telugu-language road film written and directed by Krish. The film stars Allari Naresh, Sharwanand, and Kamalinee Mukherjee. Loosely inspired by '' The Motorcycle Diaries'' (2004), the plot follows the quest ...

'' (2009). In 2005, Ranjith composed, arranged and performed an ensemble of

Ayyappa Ayyappan an incarnation of dharma sastha, also called Manikandan, is a Hindu deity popular in Southern India, He is considered to be the epitome of dharma, truth, and righteousness and is often called upon to obliterate evil. Although devotion ...

Namaskara

Slokas Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927). in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is ...

that was compiled into an album titled ''Saranam Ayyappa''. He further composed and arranged the music for the dance ensemble ''Panchamukhi''. He has worked often with

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 ...

, Vidyasagar and other music directors in Tamil.

Songs

References

External links

*
Ranjith's discography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranjith Telugu playback singers Malayalam playback singers Living people Singers from Chennai Indian male playback singers Kannada playback singers Tamil playback singers 1977 births International Tamil Film Award winners