Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) 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 ...

and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam,

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, nati ...

, Kannada,

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, Hindi,

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

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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 * * ...

as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as ''Gaanagandharvan'' ( The Celestial Singer). He is one of the highly acclaimed singers in India. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s. Yesudas won the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer record eight times, the

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

five times, and the State Award for the Best Playback Singer forty-three times, including awards given by the state governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan (second-highest civilian award) in 2017 by the Government of India for his contributions towards the arts. In 2005, he was honoured with the

J. C. Daniel Award The J. C. Daniel Award is Kerala's highest award in Malayalam cinema. It is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a non-profit institution under the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala, India. Insti ...

Kerala government Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema. In 2011 Yesudas was honoured with the CNN-IBN outstanding achievement award for his contributions in the music field. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages on the same day at AVM Studio, Chennai.

Early life

K. J. Yesudas was born in Kochi, in Kerala, in a Latin Catholic Christian family to

Augustine Joseph Kattassery Augustine Joseph (24 March 1912 – 3 February 1965) was an Indian classical musician and stage actor from Kerala, India. He was the father of Indian playback singer K. J. Yesudas and grandfather of singer Vijay Yesudas. Life H ...

and Elizabeth Joseph. His father was a well-known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor. Yesudas was the second of seven children, preceded by an elder sister named Pushpa, and followed by four younger brothers - Antony (Antappan), Babu, Mani, Justin and a younger sister, Jayamma. Among these siblings, Pushpa and Babu died of fever at a young age, and Justin, the youngest brother, died under mysterious circumstances in February 2020, aged 62. Augustine Joseph's dearest friend, Musician Kunjan Velu Bhagavathar was the first guru of him. Kunjan Velu was the disciple of Nadaswara Chakravarthi T N Raja Ratnam Pillai. Yesudas started his academic music training at R. L. V. Music Academy, Thrippunithura and completed the ''Ganabooshanam'' course. Later he studied at Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram under the tutelage of the carnatic music maestro K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer but could not complete his studies due to financial constraints. For a brief period, he also studied music under Vechoor Harihara Subramania Iyer, after which he took advanced training from

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar a.k.a. Vaidyanatha Iyer (1 September 1896 – 16 October 1974) was a Carnatic music singer from Palakkad (state of Kerala, India). Known by his village name ''Chembai'', or simply as ''Bhagavatar'', he was born to ...

. In 2021, Yesudas completed 60 years as a playback singer.

Career

Debut and early career: 1960s

Yesudas recorded his first popular song ''Jaathi Bhedam Matha Dwesham'' (music:

M. B. Sreenivasan Manamadurai Balakrishnan Sreenivasan (19 September 1925 – 9 March 1988), or MBS, was a South Indian music director who worked mainly in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He was born to an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family on 19 Septe ...

) on 14 November 1961. The singer considers those four lines he got to sing to start his career in films as a huge blessing as it was written by none other than Sree Narayana Guru, the most respected saint-poet-social reformer of Kerala. The film was

Kalpadukal ''Kalpadukal'' ( en, Footprints) is a 1962 Malayalam-language film, directed by K. S. Antony, starring Prem Nazir in the lead role. The film received a certificate of merit at the National Film Awards. Renowned playback singer K. J. Yesudas san ...

(1962), based on social reform during the life and times of Sree Narayana Guru. He associated with popular singers of those times like

P. Leela Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...

Santha P. Nair Shantha P. Nair (6 February 1929 – 26 July 2008) was a playback singer in Malayalam cinema. She was based in Thrissur, Kerala. Early life Born into the famous Ambady family in Thrissur, as one of the five children of Vasudeva Poduval and Laks ...

K. P. Udayabhanu K. P. Udayabhanu (born Bhanuprakash; 6 June 1936 5 January 2014) was an Indian playback singer and music director, mainly in Malayalam films. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. Personal life Uday ...

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...

etc. and lyricists like

P. Bhaskaran Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran alias as P. Bhaskaran (21 April 1924 – 25 February 2007), was a Malayalam poet, lyricist of Malayalam film songs, and filmmaker. He penned more than 3000 songs for about 250 films. He also directed 44 Malayalam fea ...

and Nambiyath. He sang the lines of poet Kumaran Asan for this film. After the initial years he became the most sought after by established music directors of that time,

G. Devarajan Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...

V. Dakshinamoorthy Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy (9 December 1919 – 2 August 2013) was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 ...

Br Lakshmanan Br Lakshmanan was an Indian music director in Malayalam movies during 1950s and 1960s. Lakshmanan started his career with ''Aathmasakhi ''Aathmasakhi'' () is a 1952 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by G. R. Rao. The film marks ...

M. S. Baburaj Mohammad Sabir Baburaj was an Indian music composer. He is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. Baburaj has rendered music to many evergreen Malayalam film songs. Early years Baburaj was born on 9 March 1929 in Kozhikode ...

and many others. Thus began his career in playback singing which included the Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies thereafter. He got the first major break with the hit Malayalam film named '' Bharya'' ( music by

and lyrics by Vayalar Ramavarma). In 1967, he sang hit songs in the composition of M.S.Baburaj for the film '' Udhyogastha'' directed by

P.Venu P. Venu (8 November 1940 – 25 May 2011), was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and lyricist with over 20 films to his name.His directorial venture Udhyogastha in 1967 was the first-ever multi-star cast film of the south In ...

. He also sang in

for '' Bommai'' first (music: S. Balachander), but the first released movie was ''

Konjum Kumari ''Konjum Kumari'' () is 1963 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film, directed by G. Viswanathan and produced by T. R. Sundaram of Modern Theatres. The script was written by Mana and K. Devarajan, with music by Vedha. The film stars K. R. Ind ...

'' (music: Veda). In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Union government to perform at music concerts in various cities in the USSR and also sang a Russian song over Radio Kazakhstan. The trio of Salil, Yesudas and

Prem Nazir Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading man, leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the histo ...

entered the Malayalam Cinema Industry of the 1970s. In 1970 he was nominated to head the

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy is located in Thrissur city, of Kerala, in India. It was established on 26 April 1958, inaugurated by then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The academy started a cultural centre at the Bahrain Kerala ...

and was the youngest person ever to occupy the post.

Bollywood: 1970s

After a decade of singing in South Indian movies, Yesudas got a break in Bollywood in the early 1970s. The first Hindi song he sang was for the movie ''Jai Jawan Jai Kissan'' (1971), but the first released movie was '' Chhoti Si Baat'', which resulted in his becoming popular for singings songs like "Jaaneman Jaaneman". He has sung Hindi songs for many leading actors in Hindi cinema including

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

, Amol Palekar and Jeetendra. He has sung many evergreen Hindi film songs for music directors including Ravindra Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Khayyam, Rajkamal and Salil Chowdhury. Yesudas' most popular Hindi songs are in the 1976 movie '' Chitchor'', with music given by Ravindra Jain. On 14 November 1999, Yesudas was presented with an honorary award by UNESCO for "Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace" at the "Music for Peace" event in Paris, a concert held to mark the dawn of the new millennium and whose attendees included artistes such as

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

, Ray Charles, Montserrat Caballé, and Zubin Mehta. In 2001 he sang for album ''Ahimsa'' in Sanskrit, Latin and English and in a mix of styles including

new-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

and Carnatic. In his music concerts in the Middle East he sings Arabic songs in the Carnatic style. He frequently serves as a cultural ambassador for India through his performances abroad, promoting Indian music. In 2009 Yesudas began a cross-country musical campaign against terrorism in Thiruvananthapuram, with the motto 'Music For Peace'. Kavita Karkare, wife of

Hemant Karkare Hemant Karkare AC () (12 December 1954 – 27 November 2008) was the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest p ...

, handed over the torch to Yesudas to mark the launch of the 'Shanthi Sangeetha Yatra'. Yesudas has performed for 36 times in the 36-year-old Soorya Music festival organised by Soorya Krishnamoorthy.

Personal life

Yesudas is married to Prabha. Their marriage was on 1 February 1970. They have three sons, Vinod (b. 1977), Vijay (b. 1979) and Vishal (b. 1981). Their second son Vijay Yesudas is a musician who won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 2007, 2012 and 2018. Sree Narayana Guru's message, "One religion and One God for all humanity", influenced young Yesudas in his dealings with his fellow men. He had his own heroes among the musicians too.

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

and

Balamurali Krishna Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (6 July 1930 – 22 November 2016) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in ...

are the ones he admires the most. Yesudas has been visiting

Kollur Mookambika temple Kollur Mookambika Temple is located at Kollur in Byndoor Taluk of Udupi District in the region of Tulunadu and in the state of Karnataka, India. It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Mother Goddess known as Mookambika Devi. Mookambika is the ...

, Kollur, Karnataka on his birthday to sing keerthans of

Saraswati devi Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...

, the Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. The music festival started on his 60th birthday in 2000. The nine-day music festival begins every January at Kollur Mookambika Temple. On Sunday, 10 January 2010, he celebrated his 70th birthday (Sapthathi) at Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple with 'Sangeetharchana' (classical devotional songs), along with 70 singers before goddess Mookambika. The Sangeetharchana included "Pancharatna Gayana" of Thyagaraja's poems. He also took part in the Vidyarambha function. All India Radio broadcast the special Sangeetharchana all over Kerala. Yesudas also has many songs devoted to Lord Ayyappa including the hit song "Harivarasanam". In 2002, during Marad massacre, he visited the place along with the veteran poet Sugathakumari, and conducted classes against violence.

Harivarasanam Harivarasanam is a Sanskrit devotional ashtakam (eight stanzas) dedicated to Hindu deity Ayyappan at the Sabarimala, Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple, situated in the state of Kerala, India. The song is sung as a lullaby to the deity at the ...

, a devotional song musical version composed by

, recited before closing the temple at

Sabarimala The Sabarimala Temple (; ml, ശബരിമല ക്ഷേത്രം) is a temple complex located at Sabarimala hill inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Perinad Village, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. It is one of the largest ...

was sung by Yesudas. Though there have been many different renditions of this song by many different renowned singers,

officially uses Yesudas' voice for

every day.

Music company

In 1980 Yesudas established the Tharangani Studio at Trivandrum. In 1992 the office and studio were moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu and the company was incorporated in the US in 1998. Tharangni Studio and Tharangni Records became a recording center in Kerala which, for the first time, brought out audio cassettes of

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ...

songs in stereo. The record company also had a voice mixing studio in Studio27, Chennai. The studio continues to produce and present events of Yesudas, both for film and

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

concerts throughout the world.

Awards and honours

Yesudas has recorded over 50,000 songs and has won scores of accolades including the coveted Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (2002), Padma Vibhushan (2017) and eight National Awards for Best Playback Singer. * National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer a record 8 times by the Government of India *

Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer The Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer is an honour, established in 1969, and presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India for best female and male playback singer in Malayalam cinema. The first recipients of the award were P. ...

a record 25 times for the best playback singer by the Government of Kerala * Tamil Nadu State Film Awards 5 times for the best playback singer by the Government of Tamil Nadu * West Bengal State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer by the Government of West Bengal (1 time) * Andhra Pradesh State Film Awards 4 times for the best playback singer by the Government of Andhra Pradesh *

from Government of Kerala * Honorary doctorates from

Annamalai University , logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg , image = Annamalai University logo.png , image_size = 225px , motto = "With Courage and Faith" , established = , type ...

, Kerala University and MG University *

Anandalok Best Male Playback Award Anandalok Puraskar or Anandalok Awards ( bn, আনন্দলোক পুরস্কার ) ceremony is one of the most prominent film events given for Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali Cinemas in India. The ''Anandalok'', only film magazine in Be ...

1 time for the best playback singer. * Sangeetha Kalasikhamani, 2002 by The Indian Fine arts Society, Chennai * Padmabhushan B. Sarojadevi National Award (2015) by ''Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan'', Bangalore. *

Karnataka Rajyotsava Award The Rajyotsava Prashasti or Rajyotsava Awards, the second highest civilian honor of the Karnataka state of India are conferred annually by the Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Government on the occasion of the establishment of the state on 1 ...

from Government of Karnataka in the year 2017 *Karnataka State Film Award (1991)Best Playback Singer Male, Film Ramachari Song Nammura Yuvarani *

Swaralaya Yesudas award Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award (or usually referred to as Yesudas Award) is an award for music artists in recognition to their outstanding performance. The award is instituted jointly by ''Swaralaya'', an organization that promotes music and Kair ...

is a prestigious award for music artists in recognition of their outstanding performance. The award is instituted jointly by Swaralaya, an organisation that promotes music and Kairali Channel, based in Trivandrum, Kerala. Awards have been given annually since 2000. Yesudas presents the awards at a ''Gandharva Sandhya'' every January.

Admiration

In his acceptance speech of winning the Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award (2006), AR Rahman said "I'm greatly honoured by Swaralaya's gesture, and getting this award from my most favourite singer Mr Yesudas. He is one of my most favourite voices' ever in the world." On another occasion during an interview he said of Yesudas, "his voice is unmatched, his voice is god given and I've been hearing his songs since I was 3 years old" Ravindra Jain, in an interview wherein the blind music director confessed that if ever he happened to regain vision, the first person he would like to see would be Yesudas. In 2003, billionaire and businessman B. R. Shetty gifted him his 1992 model Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit after listening his concert held at

The Indian High School, Dubai The Indian High School is a CBSE-affiliated Indian school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was established in 1961 to provide education to the children of Indian expatriates and was the first expatriate educational institution in the UAE. The s ...

. Shetty said: "I was not only touched by his concert but by the man himself who talked about God's kindness to mankind". Bappi Lahiri said in an interview with

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

in 2012: "'Yesudas' voice is touched by God. After Kishore Da(Kishore Kumar), he was another singer who brought out the best in me. He is a yogi, a mystic who lives for music. He takes your tunes to another level. And his note is perfect, you can rely on him to deliver it right the first time. Working with him made me touch base with my melodious side. He is vastly under-utilised in Hindi films. I wish Hindi film composers of today realise his genius and offer him assignments."

Controversies

On 2 October 2014, Yesudas sparked a row while speaking at a public function on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, where he stated that "Women should not wear dress that trouble others. You should dress modestly and do not behave like men". This resulted in a number of protests from Women's Rights and Political organizations, who asked him to withdraw the comment.

Filmography

As Actor

As music composer

*''Azhakulla Saleena'' (1973) *''Theekkanal'' (1976) *''Sanchari'' (1981) *''Abhinayam'' (1981) *''Poocha Sanyasi'' (1981) *''Ellaam Ayyappan'' (1988)

Discography

References

External links

Official website

Tharangni Digital
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yesudas, K. J. 1940 births Living people Bollywood playback singers Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Hindustani singers Indian male playback singers Kannada playback singers Kerala State Film Award winners Tamil playback singers Malayalam playback singers Malayali people Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Singers from Kochi Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Telugu playback singers Sanskrit-language singers Filmfare Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Film musicians from Kerala Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in arts 20th-century Indian male singers 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian singers Best Male Playback Singer National Film Award winners J. C. Daniel Award winners South Indian International Movie Awards winners