Super Singer is an 2006 Indian

Tamil-language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

reality television singing competition, that is sponsored by

Asian Paints Asian Paints Ltd is an Indian multinational paint company, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling and distribution of paints, coatings, products related to home décor, ...

for the nine Season. The show is televised in India on Vijay TV, and worldwide through partner broadcasting networks. The show, together with its spin-off editions such as Super Singer Junior, are part of Vijay TV's Super Singer TV series. The program, which debuted on 28 April 2006, seeks to discover the best playback recording voice and singing talent in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

through a series of statewide auditions. Selected contestants are required to participate in several competition rounds, often based on a theme for a given week, and aim to be selected to perform in the show's grand finale each season. Winners and finalists of the competition have been offered chances to sing a song in upcoming Tamil movies, and other prizes such as sums of money, gold, and real estate property. Super Singer Season is currently telecasting on Vijay television for their nine season.

Overview

Season synopsis

Season 1

The first season premiered on 28 April 2006, with a series of episodes which telecast auditions for the show. Auditions were held across the state of

in the cities of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbat ...

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 ...

, and

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration i ...

. Performances by auditioning contestants were judged by singers S. P. Sailaja, Jency,

Malaysia Vasudevan Vasudevan (15 June 1944 – 20 February 2011), known as Malaysia Vasudevan, was a Malaysian-Indian playback singer and actor in Tamil cinema. Early life Malaysia Vasudevan's parents were from Palakkad. Chattu Nair of Ottappalam and Amma ...

, Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram, Mahathi, and music director

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 m ...

. The show was hosted by playback singer

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

. Later stages of the competition were held at a specially designed studio set, and performances were judged by a panel of permanent judges consisting of playback singers

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi f ...

, Srinivas, and P. Unnikrishnan. Contestants were eliminated during the competition, and finalists received special training from voice expert

Ananth Vaidyanathan Ananth Vaidyanathan (born 1 November 1957) is an Indian singing trainer, who is popular for his appearances on reality singing television shows. He is often regarded as India's leading voice expert. He has also worked on few films as an actor a ...

in the final stages of the competition. Season 1 title winner

Nikhil Mathew Nikhil Mathew is a singer from Kerala, India. In 2006, he won the ''Airtel Super Singer'' reality show. As the show's winner, he won a chance to sing a song for music director Harris Jayaraj – ''Enadhuyire'' along with Chinmayi, Sadhana Sargam, ...

was formally introduced as a playback singer after he sang the song "Enadhuyire" in the Tamil film ''

Bheema In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Afte ...

'' for music director,

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 ...

. Season 1 runner up and viewer's choice, Anitha V. (now known as Anitha Karthikeyan) was formally introduced as a playback singer in the Tamil film ''

Marudhamalai Marudhamalai, also Maruthamalai or Marudamalai, is a suburb of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located along the Western Ghats, from Coimbatore. It is currently part of 17th ward of Coimbatore Corporation. It was part of Periyanaicken ...

'' by music director D. Imman.

Season 2

The second season was premiered on 7 July 2008; It held a series of episodes that telecast auditions for the show. Auditions for the show, which commenced on 27 June 2008, were held across three cities in the state of

. Performances by auditioning contestants were judged by playback singers S. P. Sailaja and Srilekha Parthasarathy in the city of

, Sunitha Sarathy and Deepan Chakravarthy in the city of

, as well as Mahathi and Mathangi in the city of

Trichy Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. Playback singer

returned as a permanent host of the show up to and including 21 January 2009, following which she left the show much to the disappointment of many fans of the show. She was replaced by a duo, singer-actor Yugendran and his wife Malini for the remainder of the show in 2009. Playback singers P. Unnikrishnan and Srinivas returned as permanent judges of the show, and a new permanent judge, playback singer Sujatha replaced

(who instead appeared as a guest judge through the season). Contestants were eliminated during the competition, and finalists received special training from voice expert

in the final stages of the competition. Ajeesh won the competition and was chosen by

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 ...

to sing the song '' Idhu Varai'' for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

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, na ...

film, Goa.

Season 3

The auditions were held in various parts of Tamil Nadu, and were judged by singers including S. P. Sailaja, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Unni Menon, Sowmya,

Harish Raghavendra Harish Raghavendra (born 7 December 1976) is an Indian Tamil vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. He is the son of photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like ''Hey Azhagiya Theeyee'' from Minnale, ''Nirpadhuve N ...

Pop Shalini Shalini Singh, popularly called as Pop Shalini, is a singer from Tamil Nadu, India. Born in 1984, she is a singer, performer, blogger, and also a writer. She released an album 'Shalini' when she was only 13. She has sung over 5000 songs in var ...

, Mahathi, and

Malgudi Shubha Malgudi Subha (born 17 October 1965; also spelled as Malgadi Shuba) is an Indian playback singer. She has recorded songs in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. In a career spanning two decades, she sang more than 3000 songs. She bega ...

. Sujatha, P. Unnikrishnan and Srinivas continued to be the permanent judges for the second consecutive season.

Saicharan P. Sai Sharan is a Carnatic musician and Indian playback singer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He rose to prominence after winning the third season of the ''Airtel Super Singer''. He was previously a top 4 finalist in the debut season of the junior ...

won the competition, and was chosen 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 ...

and

to sing in the films '' Godfather'', '' Manam Kothi Paravai'', and ''

Saattai ''Saattai'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by M. Anbazhagan. The film features Samuthirakani and Thambi Ramaiah in pivotal roles. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by D. Imman. The sho ...

''.

Season 4

The auditions were held in various parts of Tamil Nadu, and were judged by singers including S. P. Sailaja, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Unni Menon, Sowmya,

Devan Ekambaram Devan Ekambaram (born 25 December 1975) is an Indian American film playback singer, actor and composer. He began his career as a playback singer in Tamil films and later branched out to many other south Indian languages as well like Telugu, Kan ...

, Mahathi,

and Rajinderpal Singh. Sujatha, P. Unnikrishnan and Srinivas continued to be the permanent judges for the third consecutive season.

Diwakar Dhivagaran Santhosh (also known as ''Diwakar'') is an Indian playback singer and live performer. He is best known for winning season 4 of ''Airtel Super Singer'', a Tamil language musical reality TV show which was telecast from December 2012 to ...

won the competition, and was chosen by music directors

, Vivek-Mervin, and Kannan to sing in the films ''

Panjumittai ''Panjumittai'' () is a 2018 Tamil language fantasy comedy film written and directed by debutant S. P. Mohan (also known as Sengoda mohan) and produced by Ramesh KV, S. Ganesh and Vinodh Kumar. The film has Ma Ka Pa Anand and Nikhila Vimal in ...

'', '' Vadacurry'', and '' Kalkandu''.

Season 5

The fifth season was hosted by Priyanka Deshpande,

Ma Ka Pa Anand Ma Ka Pa Anand is an Indian actor and television presenter who has been working with Star Vijay. He has hosted '' Super Singer, Athu Ithu Ethu'', ''Kings of Dance'', ''KPY Champions'', '' Mrs. Chinnathirai'', ''The Wall'', ''Cinema Kaaram Co ...

, and Bhavna Balakrishnan. The auditions were held in various parts of Tamil Nadu and were telecast until 3 July. First-round audition judges included season 3 winner Saisharan, season 4 winner

, and former contestants from those seasons such as D. Sathyaprakash, Pooja Vaidyanath, Santhosh Hariharan, and Sonia. Second and third round audition judges included S. P. Charan,

Pushpavanam Kuppusamy Pushpavanam Kuppusamy is a Tamil folk singer, lyricist, writer and music composer of Tamil folk art. He has been credited for reviving the Naatupura Paatu a Tamil folk art. Together with his wife Anitha Kuppusamy, he has conducted several music ...

, James Vasanthan, Mahathi,

S. Sowmya S. Sowmya (born 16 April 1969) is a Carnatic music singer. She learnt music initially from her father Dr. Srinivasan, and later from Dr. S. Ramanathan and Smt. T. Muktha. She received the Sangeetha Kalanidhi title by Madras Music Academy in ...

, and

. Zonal audition judges were permanent judges from the junior version of the show,

Mano Mano may refer to: People * Mano people, an ethnic group in Liberia * Mano (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Mano (Mozambican footballer) (born 1984), real name Celso Halilo de Abdul * Mano (Portuguese footballer) (b ...

, and K. S. Chithra. A total of 33 contestants were selected for the finals, including local, international, and former contestants. At the finale of the show, contestant

Anand Aravindakshan Anand Aravindakshan (born 1989) is an Indian playback singer, and the 2016 title winner of Airtel Super Singer Season 5, a television-based reality singing competition in Tamil televised on Vijay TV. Early life Anand did his school education ...

was declared the winner of the season, while contestant Fareedha was declared first runner-up. Both finalists were promised an opportunity to sing for one of the upcoming films of music director

Santhosh Narayanan Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian composer and musician in the Tamil film industry. Early life Santhosh Narayanan was born in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is the younger of two children. He was educated at RSK Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirapp ...

. Contestant Rajaganapathy was chosen as the judge's choice scoring the highest marks and being declared the second runner-up of the season. The season landed in

controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

as social media users accused the STAR Vijay Indian TV channel of wrongdoing. Social media users expressed concern that audiences who spent time and money to support talented youngsters were the victim of unethical practices and criticised the channel for not being upfront about the fact that the winning contestant was already a professional playback singer - which was defended by the channel.

Season 6

The sixth season of Super Singer 6 was hosted by

and Priyanka Deshpande, which ran from 21 January 2018 to 15 July 2018 and was broadcast by Star Vijay. All the episodes of Super singer 6 are available on the OTT platform Hotstar. The Judges Panel include

, P. Unnikrishnan, Swetha Mohan, and Benny Dayal.

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 ...

was the Ambassador for this season. The top 6 Finalist were Rakshitha, Sreekanth, Shakthi, Anirudh, Malavika and Senthil Ganesh. The results of the finale are given as: *

Senthil Ganesh Senthil Ganesh is an Indian folk, playback singer and actor. He rose to prominence after winning the 6th edition of the ''Airtel Super Singer'' in 2018 which was aired in Star Vijay. He made his acting debut with the film ''Thirudu Pogatha M ...

was declared the Winner of the Super Singer Season 6 * Rakshitha Suresh became the first runner up of the season and gets applauded by everyone for being the "Golden Voice of the Season". * Malavika Rajesh Vaidya was the second runner up of the season. * Suswaram Anirudh , Sakthi Amaran , Sreekanth Hariharan were the other finalists

Season 7

The Seventh Season of Super Singer 7 started on 27 April 2019 and finished on 10 November on Star Vijay and was telecast from 8 PM onwards.

and

Priyanka Deshpande Priyanka Deshpande (born 28 April 1992) is an Indian television presenter, host and actress. She predominantly works in Tamil television and film industry especially in Tamil entertainment, Priyanka is also one of the highest paid South India ...

return as the hosts for this season. This season returns with the same judges' panel including,

Anuradha SriRam Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi f ...

Unni Krishnan Parakkal Unnikrishnan (born 9 July 1966) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and playback singer. Early life and background Unnikrishnan was born to K. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Harini Radhakrishnan in Palakkad, Kerala. The family home, Kesari Ku ...

, Shweta Mohan, and Benny Dayal.

Anirudh Ravichandran Anirudh Ravichander (born 16 October 1990), also known 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 Ravi Raghavendra. He ...

is the Ambassador for this season. The top 5 were Mookuthi Murugan (SS3), Sam Vishal (SS7), Vikram (SS13), Gowtham, and Punya(SS 6). Winners: * Murugan was declared the Winner of the Super Singer Season 7 and received a 50 lakh worth house by Arun Excello. * Vikram was the first runner up of the season and was awarded 25 lakh gold by Gold one. * Sam Vishal and Punya were tied as the second runner up of the season. * Gowtham was the third runner up of the season. All of the episodes of this season are available on the OTT Platform- Hotstar.

Season 8

The Eighth Season of Super Singer 8 scheduled to start on 24 January 2021 with a Grand launch of a nine-hour program on Star Vijay with grace performances of Hariharan,

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tam ...

, P. Unnikrishnan, Sid Sriram,

Sakthisree Gopalan Shakthisree Gopalan (born 9 October 1988) is an Indian vocalist, songwriter and performer, famous for her collaborations with the top south-Indian music composers like A.R. Rahman. Aside from the film music, she is a regular in the independent ...

, Saindhavi,

Vijay Prakash Vijay Prakash (born 21 February 1976) is an Indian Playback singer and also a Music Composer from Karnataka. He has given his voice for predominantly Kannada and Telugu language films. In addition, he has also sung in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam ...

, Karthik, Anthony Daasan Shashaa Tirupati, Benny Dayal,

Kalpana Raghavendar Kalpana Raghavendar (born 8 May 1980) is an Indian playback singer, winner of Idea Star Singer Malayalam and participant in Bigg Boss Telugu Season 1, songwriter and actor. She started her career as a playback singer at the age of five, and ...

Pradeep Pradeep is a Diya lamp, used in Puja (religious ceremonies) in Hinduism, Jainism, & Buddhism. It is related to the name Pradip. Notable people with the name include: Pradeep Dahal* Pradeep (actor) * Kavi Pradeep * Vidya Pradeep * Pradeep Kumar ...

Vijay Yesudas Vijay Yesudas (born 23 March 1979) is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son o ...

, S. P. Charan, Gana Bala,

Chinnaponnu Chinnaponnu (also credited as Chinna Ponnu or Chinnaponnu Kumar) is a folk and playback singer from the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Early life Chinnaponnu was born in Suranam, a small village in Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu, India. She star ...

, Karunas. All the episodes will be available on the OTT Platform- Hotstar. The judging panel was often shuffled with

Unnikrishnan Unnikrishnan is a Hindu name commonly used in the Indian state of Kerala. Unnikrishnan refers to the infant form of the Hindu deity Krishna. The following is list of people named Unnikrishnan: ;Given name * Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan (born 19 ...

, Swetha Mohan, Benny Dayal, S. P. Charan,

and Shakthisree Gopalan. Sridhar Sena won the title of Super Singer 8. Prize Winners: * Sridhar Sena was announced the Winner of the Super Singer Season 8 and received a 10 lakh award by Vijay TV. He has also been provided the opportunity to sing in a future film song composed by

Anirudh Ravichander Anirudh Ravichander (born 16 October 1990), also known 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 Ravi Raghavendra. He ...

. * Bharat K Rajesh (announced by Mervin Solomon) was the runner up of the season and was awarded an amount of 3 lakhs and an additional amount of Rs 50,000. * Abhilash Venkatachalam was announced third place by Santhosh Narayanan. He received a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, and stated that the money was going to be spent for those who were affected by the COVID - 19 Pandemic situation. * Muthusirpi was awarded the title of Differentiator of the Season and received an amount of Rs 1 lakh, presented by KS Chitra.

Season 8 contestants

Season 9

The Nine Season of Super Singer 9 started on 19 November 2022 on Star Vijay and was telecast from every Saturday and Sunday at 18:30 IST.

and

returns as the hosts for this season. This season returns with the same judges' panel including,

, Shweta Mohan, and Benny Dayal.

Spin-off

Super Singer T20

Super Singer T20 (சூப்பர் சிங்கர் T20) is a 2012-2015 Indian

-language reality television singing competition, which aired on Star Vijay. Former contestants from previous seasons of the Super Singer and

Airtel Super Singer Junior Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as ( d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently ...

shows were divided into 6 teams. 15 league matches were held where each team competed against the other five teams. 4 teams were selected for the knockout semi-finals, before the remaining 2 teams competed against each other in the finals. The show was hosted by

Divyadarshini Dhivyadharshini "DD" Neelakandan is an Indian television host and actress who prominently works in Tamil film and television industry. Initially making her debut as an actress, she featured in supporting roles in films including Kamal Haasan ...

Super Singer - Champion of Champions

Super Singer - Champion of Champions is a 2020 Indian

-language reality television singing competition, which aired on Star Vijay. The show has nearly 24 singers, all of them winners and finalists of Super Singers, who are now performing batch by batch, and with no audience to cheer them on. The show was aired from 15 August to 1 November 2020 and ended with 21 Episodes.

, Sudha Ragunathan, K. S. Chithra,

, Benny Dayal,

, Shweta Mohan and

Sikkil Gurucharan . In 2020, he acted in a tamil anthology film, Putham Pudhu Kaalai. Early life Around 1987, as a 5-year-old, Gurucharan was casually coaxed by his grandmothers, the Sikkil Sisters, to sing some tune. After a little cajoling, he sang a popular fi ...

as the judges, take turns to watch their performance live, albeit, from their homes. The show was hosted by

and

. Super Singer Champion Of Champions Winner is Hari Priya. ;contestants * Dhivakar * Saecharan * Santosh * MALAVIKA * Haripriya * Senthil Ganesh * Rajalakshmi * Energy * Praveen * Naveen Samson * Srinivasan * Manoj Kumar * Samvishhal * Srinisha * Sudhankumar * Wow * Shivangi * Ajay * Sharath * Rangapriya * Aparna * Vikram * Vijay

Adaptations

References

External links

Official Super Singer Junior Forum
* {{STAR Vijay TV shows Airtel Super Singer Star Vijay original programming 2006 Tamil-language television series debuts Tamil-language singing talent shows Tamil-language reality television series Tamil-language television shows Television shows set in Tamil Nadu 2021 Tamil-language television seasons