Sooraj Santhosh (born 19 September 1987) is an Indian playback singer who sings mainly in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam languages and has also sung in Hindi, Kannada and Badaga. He has sung around 200 songs in 8 Indian languages. He was the former lead vocalist of the band

Masala Coffee Masala Coffee is an Indian music band founded in 2014. The band performs across various genres - Indian folk, blues, pop and rock. Although they primarily compose original music and covers in Malayalam and Tamil, the band also performs in Hindi. ...

Personal life

Sooraj Santhosh was born in Paravur in

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

and then moved to

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. He attended Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram for schooling. He pursued his B.Com. at MG College and his M.Com. at Mar Ivanious College.

Singing career

He won the 2004 School Youth Festival and 2004–2005 Kerala State Higher Secondary Youth Festival. He represented Kerala University in the South Zone Inter-University Youth Festival and was declared the winner three years in a row – 2009, 2010 and 2011, and participated in the National Inter University Youth Festival. In 2009 he shifted his base from Trivandrum to Chennai. He says that if it was not for his guru, professional flautist and Carnatic musician Kudamaloor Janardanan, he wouldn't have understood music in this depth. Sooraj accompanied Kudamaloor Janardhanan for a fusion ensemble at the Kovalam Lit Fest (2010) (he was the only singer in the group). He is also a vocalist with Ashram Oriental Rock, a seven-member Indo-Austrian band, and went on a European tour with them in 2011.

Masala Coffee

Sooraj Santhosh was the co-founder and former lead vocalist of Masala Coffee, which made its debut on Kappa TV's Music Mojo. The band composed the soundtrack for the Tamil movie, ''

Uriyadi ''Uriyadi'' (Tamil: ) () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film written, directed and produced by newcomer Vijay Kumar under the production banner Souvenir Productions, with Nalan Kumarasamy, Sameer Bharat Ram and Satish S ...

'', co-produced by

Nalan Kumarasamy Nalan Kumarasamy is an Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a short filmmaker and won the title of the first season of ''Naalaya Iyakunar''. He made his feature film debut with Tamil film, ''Soodhu ...

. They composed the title track and featured in a promo video for the Malayalam movie, ''Hello Namasthe.'' Masala Coffee performed at the RAAG 'N' ROCK Indie Music Festival at Al Nasr Leisureland, Dubai, on September 11, 2015, releasing their first music video titled 'Aalayaal Tharam Venam', in 2016. In November 2019, Masala Coffee announced that they were cordially parting ways with Sooraj, so the latter could pursue a promising solo music career. Sooraj made his independent band latter which came to know as Sooraj Santhosh Live His first song ′Inka Etho′ composed by G.V Prakash for the Telugu ''Darling'' won him the

Mirchi Music Awards South Mirchi Music Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Mirchi Music Awards, presented by Radio Mirchi to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the South Indian music industry. The awards are separately giv ...

conducted by Radio Mirchi for the Best Upcoming Singer in Telugu (2010). "A Special program on the Mirchi Music Awards hosted to felicitate all the singers and musicians of South India" Sooraj made his debut in Malayalam with the song ′Ee Ramayanakkootil′ in the film Second Show. Music was composed by Nikhil Rajan starring Dulquar Salman. Sooraj made his entry into the Tamil film industry by singing ′Uyirin Suvaril′ and ′Vegam vegam′ in the movie ''Sridhar'' (2012)for which music was composed by

Rahul Raj Rahul Raj (born 17 March 1978) is an Indian music composer. He has composed and produced Film score, scores and soundtracks for Malayalam language, Malayalam, Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil language, Tamil movies. He is an alumnus of the pr ...

. He got his break with a duet song ′Yamma Yamma′ in ''

All in All Azhagu Raja ''All in All Azhagu Raja'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by M. Rajesh. Karthi in dual lead roles with, Kajal Aggarwal and Santhanam in the supporting roles. It marks the second collaboration betw ...

'' (2013) with

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 ...

, music composed by

S. Thaman Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Thaman (born 16 November 1983), known professionally as Thaman S, earlier as S S Thaman, is an Indian music composer, professional drummer, and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu films and Tamil films. Th ...

. ′Othakadai othakadai′ and ′Yaelley Yaelley′ from the film ''

Pandiya Naadu ''Pandiya Naadu'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Suseenthiran and produced by Vishal. The film features Vishal and Lakshmi Menon in the lead roles, while Bharathiraja, Soori, Vikranth, and Sharath ...

'' (2013) composed by

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. Also worked in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. His first film as mu ...

are other Tamil songs. His recent song ′Madai Thirandhathu′ was for music director M M Sreelekha in the film ''Kaadhal Solla Aasai''. He has been nominated in the category of Best Upcoming Vocalist (Male)in Malayalam (2013) by Music Mirchi Awards, for his rendition of the song 'Iniyum Nin Mounam' for the movie ''KQ''. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Thaniye Mizhikal" from the film

Guppy The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...

. He also won the Janbhumi film awards 2017 and SIIMA 2017. The Gypsy Sun Sooraj is working on his debut solo album, which is a Multilingual album consists of 6 songs, Recently he released one among the 6 songs. ‘Thani Malayalam’ released recently has wooed the audience with its unique theme and offbeat composition. The song's genesis is rooted in Sooraj's love for language. The Music Video features eminent personalities from Malayalam literature, culture, art and cinema like M T Vasudevan Nair, Sara Joseph, Benyamin, Nedumudi Venu, Peeshapilly Rajeevan, Artist Bhattathiri, Methil Devika, Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, Ramachandra Pulavar.

Solo album

The Gypsy Sun Sooraj is working on his debut solo album, which is a multilingual album consists of 6 songs, Recently he released one among them. ‘Thani Malayalam’ which has wooed the audience with its unique theme and offbeat composition. The song's genesis is rooted in Sooraj's love for language. The Music Video features eminent personalities from Malayalam literature, culture, art and cinema like M T Vasudevan Nair, Sara Joseph, Benyamin, Nedumudi Venu, Peeshapilly Rajeevan, Artist Bhattathiri, Methil Devika, Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, Ramachandra Pulavar.

Discography

Malayalam

Tamil

Telugu

Hindi

Kannada

Music albums

Awards

Kerala State Film Awards 2016: Best Male Playback Singer - 'Thaniye Mizhikal',

Other Awards 2010:

, Best Upcoming Singer (Telugu) - 'Inka Etho', Darling 2017: Janmabhumi Film Awards, Best Playback Singer - 'Thaniye Mizhikal', Guppy 2017:

SIIMA South Indian International Movie Awards, also known as the SIIMA Awards, rewards the artistic and technical achievements of the South Indian film industry. It was launched in 2012 by Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Brinda Prasad Adusimilli to appreci ...

, Best Playback Singer (Malayalam)- 'Thaniye Mizhikal', Guppy *2018:

, Mirchi Music Awards South#Best vocalists Malayalam

International concerts

* US-Canada tour with Music director Devi Sri Prasad for a series of performances in cities across USA and Canada (July–August 2014) - 'Team for US Tour' * Sooraj performed with the band Masala Coffee in Dubai on 17 October 2014 at the inaugural ceremony of KPL Dubai Season 3. * Sooraj and his band, Masala Coffee will be performing live for Raag 'N' Rock - The Indie Music Festival, on 11 September 2015 in Dubai * Sooraj is the Soloist Tenor who will be accompanying the Chennai-based composer Mr. Ganesh B. Kumar and team to premiere the Shanmuga Kavacham with the European Choir Group. It is the world's first Choral composition from India, to adorn the Western Classical Choral repertoire. This composition titled “Shanmuga Kavacham” is a spiritual masterpiece in Tamil, written by the Saint / Poet Srimath Pamban Swamigal, in 1891. The World Premiere of “Shanmuga Kavacham”, along with other selected mantras would be performed in Choral a cappella style in Germany on 20 September 2015 at Kurhaus Weisbaden / Friedrich-von-Thiersch-Saal, Germany. This auspicious event is titled “Mantra Meets Classic” and will be conducted by Mr. Nicol Matt, one of Germany's few new generation conductors enjoying international reputation. * Sooraj has accompanied Gopi Sunder to perform in Melbourne at 1330, Ferntree Gully Rd, Scoresby, VIC 3179 for the audio launch of the movie 'Team 5' on 1 October 2016. * Sooraj has performed with Masala Coffee on 22 October 2016, at the Malaysian Independent Live Fusion Festival held at the StarXpo Centre, Kuala Lumpur. * Sooraj and his band, Masala Coffee Performed for the Sarvesh Festival of Arts at the Victoria Hall, Singapore, on 25 November 2016. * Sooraj has performed with his band Masala Coffee on 17 March 2017, at the Dubai Global Village.