Shashaa Kiran Tirupati (born 21 December 1989) is a Canadian

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 ...

, songwriter, and music producer of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. Popularly known as "The Humma Girl", in 2018, she won the

National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry ...

, as well as the

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for the Tamil song " Vaan Varuvaan" from ''

Kaatru Veliyidai ''Kaatru Veliyidai'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic war film, produced, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Made under the Madras Talkies banner, it features music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Ravi Varman and editi ...

''. Tirupati has recorded songs in over 20+ languages including:

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 ...

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,

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 ...

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 ...

, Konkani,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

with more than 200 songs to her credit as a vocalist. She is the voice behind Bollywood hits such as: " Khulke Jeene Ka" (

Dil Bechara ''Dil Bechara'' () is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age romance film directed by Mukesh Chhabra in his directorial debut, and produced by Fox Star Studios, with a script written by Shashank Khaitan and Suprotim Sengputa. Based on Joh ...

), "The Humma Song", from ''

OK Jaanu ''OK Jaanu'' () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Shaad Ali, with screenplay and story based on Mani Ratnam's Tamil film O Kadhal Kanmani, and produced by Ratnam and Karan Johar under their banners Madras Talkies an ...

''; " Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga" (with

Arijit Singh Arijit Singh (born 25 April 1987) is an Indian singer and music composer. He sings predominantly in Bengali and Hindi, but has also performed in various other Indian languages. He is the recipient of a National Award and six Filmfare Awards ...

) and "Baarish" for ''

Half Girlfriend Half Girlfriend is an Indian English coming of age, young adult romance novel by Indian author Chetan Bhagat. The novel, set in rural Bihar, New Delhi, Patna, and New York, is the story of a Bihari boy in quest of winning over the girl he ...

''; "Kanha", for ''

Shubh Mangal Savdhan ''Shubh Mangal Savdhan'' is a Marathi movie released on 11 June 1992 produced and directed by M.S.Salvi. Cast * Ashok Saraf * Varsha Usgaonkar * Laxmikant Berde * Asha Kale * Nilu Phule * Ravi Patwardhan * Daya Dongre *Sudhir Dalvi * Leela ...

''; "O Sona Tere Liye" and "Chal Kahin Door", both from the film ''Mom''. She features on the soundtrack of 'Mimi' (2021) starring Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi in the song titled 'Hututu', composed by AR Rahman and penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Tirupati released her first single, 'In My Skin' from her debut Independent EP (I'm Sorry, Heart) featuring celebrated guitarist, Keba Jeremiah in January, 2022.

Early life

She attended LA Matheson Secondary School in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. She graduated in 2005, with a 96% average, earning a Gordon M. Shrum Major Entrance Scholarship for Undergraduate Studies at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

, the Matheson Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, The Surrey Administrator's Scholarship, The UBC President's Entrance Scholarship, and the Governor General's Medallion for the top-most achiever of the province's graduating class of 2005.

Career

While pursuing her under-graduate studies, Tirupati continued to perform at festivals and solo concerts. She later left school to pursue a career in

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 ...

, playback singing in

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 plays

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

(African instrument), western

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 ...

keyboards 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

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

. Tirupati was noticed by

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 ...

during ''

Coke Studio Coke Studio may refer to: * ''Coke Studio'' (Pakistan), a Pakistani television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio'' (India), an Indian television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio Bangla'', a Banglade ...

'' Season 3, shortly after which she sang a solo for him, "Vaada Vaada", in ''

Kochadaiiyaan ''Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language 3D animated action film written by K. S. Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India's first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters whose de ...

''. Her second song, "Aye Mr. Minor", from Rahman's musical, ''Kaaviyathalaivan'', gained immediate recognition in the Tamil music industry, followed by "Naane Varugiren", "Vaan", "Silikku Marame", "Oday Oday", "Kaara Aatakaara", "Un Kadhal Irundhaal", "Thaen Kaatru", "Uyiraagi", "Kaadhalaada" and the recent "Naan Pizhai" for

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 ...

. She was featured on three tracks in the 2015

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

- A. R. Rahman film '' OK Kanmani'': "Kaara Attaakaara", "Parandhu Sella Vaa", and "Naane Varugiren", as well as on the corresponding three songs in the Telugu version, ''OK Bangaram''. She has recently featured on the soundtrack of AR Rahman's "Dil Bechara", starring

Sushant Singh Rajput Sushant Singh Rajput (21 January 1986 – 14 June 2020) was an Indian actor known for his work in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. He starred in a number of commercially successful Hindi films such as ''M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story'' (2016), ''Kedarn ...

and Sanjana Sanghi. The song, titled "Khulke Jeene Ka", features Tirupati and Arijit Singh. She has rendered two songs on the AR Rahman directorial "99 Songs" soundtrack, namely, "Soja Soja" (solo lead) and "Humnawaa" (with Armaan Mallik), which she has co-written as lyricist as well. Her recent Telugu song, "Manasu Maree", for actor Nani's film "V" with Amit Trivedi, also the composer of the film, has been much appreciated. She toured extensively with A.R Rahman in: Encore Tour 2017, Infinite Love Tour, Rahmanishq Tour, T 20 Opening Concert, Greatest Hits Concert at the O2, Vadodara Festival, NH7 Weekender, TEDx Talks, and ENCORE 2017). She has sung more than 30 songs (in different languages) for him. Tirupati has performed at Men's Hockey World Cup Opening Ceremony as part of AR Rahman's Entourage. She was part of ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' Season 4, alongside Hindi music director

Mithoon Mithun Sharma (born 11 January 1985), also known as Mithoon, is an Indian Hindi film music director, lyricist-composer and singer. Mithoon composed the Hindi song "Tum Hi Ho" from the 2013 Bollywood romantic film ''Aashiqui 2''. Mithoon recei ...

. Tirupati performed at the BRICS SUMMIT in Goa with Clinton Cerejo. She is currently venturing into Independent Music, and releasing original content written and sung by herself. "String of Air" is her first independently released single. Tirupati has rendered songs in over 13 languages, with more than 200 songs to her credit as a vocalist. She is also collaborating with playback singer,

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

, for her fifth original composition, to be a bilingual track, titled "Yezhundhu Via" in

and "Roothi Hui" in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. The song was released Tirupati's YouTube Channel in January 2020. Tirupati made her theatre acting debut with the play ''I, Cloud'', written and directed by Ulka Mayur, with lyricist Mayur Puri playing the male lead.

Recognition

Tirupati is the recipient of the National Award 2018 for Best Female Singer for the song "Vaan Varuvaan" (Kaatru Veliyidai). She has won the ''

'' for "Vaan Varuvaan", and the Star Screen Award for Best Playback Singer (Female) for the song "Kanha" (Shubh Mangal Savdhan), the Mirchi Music Award for Sunn Bhanwara (OK Jaanu), and was nominated for Best Playback Singer (Female) at the Jio Filmfare Awards for Kanha. She received the Jubilee Awards 2017 Platinum and Gold Discs, the Zee Cine Award 2018 for Viewer's Choice Song of the Year (Baarish), the Mirchi Music Award 2015 for Best Upcoming Female Singer for the song "Aye Mr. Minor" composed by A. R. Rahman and Vikatan Awards 2015 for Best Upcoming Female Singer for the song "Naane Varugiren", also composed by A. R. Rahman. Popularly known as "The Humma Girl", in 2018, she won the

, as well as the

, for the Tamil song " Vaan Varuvaan", from ''

''.

Independent music

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirupati, Shashaa Living people 1989 births Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Kashmiri descent Canadian Hindus People from Srinagar Indian people Kashmiri people Kashmiri Pandits Indian emigrants to Canada Musicians from Vancouver Canadian musicians of Indian descent Simon Fraser University alumni Canadian playback singers Canadian women singer-songwriters Tamil playback singers Telugu playback singers Kannada playback singers Malayalam playback singers Marathi playback singers Bollywood playback singers Expatriate musicians in India Canadian expatriates in India Screen Awards winners Best Female Playback Singer National Film Award winners 21st-century Canadian singers 21st-century Canadian women singers