Shivranjani Shakti Singh popularly known by her stage name Shivi (born 27 August 1994) is an Indian

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 ...

. She gained notice at the age of 14 when she won ''Hannah Montana – The Big Pop Star Dream'', a reality-television singing-contest on Disney Channel, in 2008. Her

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

career began with the song "Solah Baras ki" for the 2013 film, '' Sixteen''. She then went on to sing in various other Bollywood films like '' Welcome to Karachi'', '' Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat'', ''

Dee Saturday Night ''Dee Saturday Night'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Jay Prakash. The film released on 21 February 2014. It stars Prashant Narayanan, Arif Zakaria, Aman Verma, Amit Dimri, Vivek Rajput, Mahi Khanduri, Gaurav Dixit, M ...

'', ''Angry Young Man'' and ''

Hate Story 3 ''Hate Story 3'' is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language erotic thriller film directed by Vishal Pandya. Produced by T-Series, it stars Sharman Joshi, Karan Singh Grover, Zareen Khan and Daisy Shah, with Priyanshu Chatterjee in a pivotal role. Writte ...

''. However, she came into prominence with the release of her song "Oh Boy" from the movie ''

Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 ''Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3'' () is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language adult comedy film starring Tusshar Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani and Mandana Karimi in lead roles along with Gizele Thakral, Claudia Ciesla, Krishna Abhishek, Shakti Kapoor, Darshan Jariwa ...

''.

Life and career

Early life (1994–2008)

Shivranjani was born and raised in Himachal Pradesh,

Mandi district Mandi district is one of the central districts of Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The town of Mandi is the headquarters of the district. The main native language is Mandeali. As of 2011 it is the second most populous district of H ...

, later moving to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. She belongs to Himachal Pradesh with

Mandi Mandi may refer to: Places * Mandı, Azerbaijan India * Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir * Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh ** Mandi State, former princely sta ...

being her hometown. Her father, Shakti Singh, had a musical background with a few albums and

releases during a varied career as a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and government official. Her mother, Mala Singh, is a business woman with many awards for her green-entrepreneurship. Shivranjani had always excelled at singing, dancing and acting during her schooling. She started considering singing as a career when she participated in a 2008 reality-television singing-contest, ''Hannah Montana – The Big Pop Star Dream'', on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

. She emerged as the winner amongst 2 lakh (200,000) participants from across India. Among her prizes was a trip to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to meet the cast of ''

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), a ...

'' and see the shooting of an episode, and a Gibson guitar signed by

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

. Shivranjani met Miley Cyrus on her birthday (27 August). She was also featured on the cover of ''

Disney Adventures ''Disney Adventures'' (also short-formed as ''D.A.'') was an American children's entertainment and educational magazine published twelve (later ten) times per year by Disney Publishing Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney Consumer Products, a unit o ...

'' magazine and shot a music video which aired on Disney Channel.

Early career (2009–2014)

In 2013, Shivranjani Singh began studying biochemistry at

Mithibai College The Mithibai College of Arts, Chauhan Institute of Science & Amruthben Jivanlal College of Commerce and Economics is a college affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The college was established in 1961 in Vile Parle, Mumbai by Shri Vile Parle ...

while pursuing her singing dream. She was also offered acting assignments for television and small-budget movies but maintained that she only wanted to pursue singing. She recorded songs with music directors

Ankit Tiwari Ankit Tiwari is an Indian playback singer, live perfomer ,music director, composer. His career began upon meeting Pradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work on jingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequ ...

and Amjad-Nadeem.

Bollywood and America (2015–present)

Her first big break was offered to her by music director

Rochak Kohli Rochak Kohli is an Indian music director for Bollywood films. He made his music debut in Shoojit Sircar's romantic comedy ''Vicky Donor'' with ''Pani Da Rang''. The song was made in collaboration with Ayushmann Khurrana, the lead of the film. ...

for the film '' Welcome to Karachi''. She had 2 songs in the film: "Lalla Lalla Lori" with Vishal Dadhlani and "Boat ma" with

Mika Singh Mika Singh (born 10 June 1977) is an Indian singer. His songs include "Bas Ek King" ('' Singh Is Kinng''), "Mauja Hi Mauja" (''Jab We Met''), "Ibn-e-Batuta" (''Ishqiya''), and "Dhanno" ('' Housefull''). He has released several solo albums and a ...

. She followed this with '' Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat'', in which she sang "Baby Modern Modern" with

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 ...

for music director Vijaya Shanker. For the musical ''

'', she had her first solo song, "Love To Hate You", for music-director

Amaal Mallik Amaal Mallik (born 16 June 1990) is an Indian music director, composer, singer, music producer, arranger, background scorer, performer and lyricist. He is the elder son of Daboo Malik and Jyothi Malik, and grandson of Sardar Malik. He debuted ...

. Meanwhile, she was invited to perform with music duo

Sajid–Wajid Sajid–Wajid was an Indian Bollywood Hindi film music director duo consisting of brothers Sajid Khan and Wajid Khan, the sons of Sharafat Ali Khan, a tabla player. Wajid Khan, the younger of the two brothers, died on June 1, 2020. Since th ...

, joining them on their Unstoppable tour of America. Shivranjani also recorded "Feed My Soul" with Florida-based music producers Cody Morris and Sudeep Sinha, which was well received by the underground Trap music scene in the US. On 1 January 2016, Shivranjani's item song "Oh Boy" was released, with Wajid Khan, from the movie ''

''. Composed by Sajid–Wajid, the song had much publicity as the singing debut of actress

Mandana Karimi Mandana Karimi (born Manizeh Karimi; on 19 May 1988) is an Iranian actress and model based in India. After working on several successful modelling projects around the world, she appeared as a lead in the Bollywood film, ''Bhaag Johnny''. She pa ...

from '' Big Boss 9'' fame, and the controversial nature of the film. Shivranjani came into prominence with this song, and also sang the title track of the movie with

Benny Dayal Benny Dayal (born 13 May 1984) is an Indian playback singer. He is a prominent singer in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati and Marathi and more languages films. He has sung more than 3500 songs in 19+ Indian languages. ...

. She is currently working with many music directors and performing in various events and live shows across the country.

Musical style and influences

Shivranjani grew up listening to artists of the west like

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

, and is thus primarily a western vocalist. However, she has only recently begun learning

Hindustani classical 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 ...

Discography

Independent music

* "Feed my soul" – Morris Code and SS feat. Shivranjani Singh – Trap Nation – 2015 * "Chaldi" – Shivi – 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Shivranjani Bollywood playback singers Indian women playback singers People from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh 1994 births Living people 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Himachal Pradesh Singers from Himachal Pradesh