Harris Jayaraj

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Harris Jayaraj
Born January 8, 1975 (1975-01-08) (age 33)
Chennai, India
Occupation Film composer, Musician
Website
Harris Jayaraj at Paadal.com (Unofficial)

Harris Jayaraj (Tamil:ஹாரிஸ் ஜெயராஜ்)(born January 8, 1975) is a music composer from Tamil cinema. He has written scores and soundtracks and played music for many Tamil films, as well as Telugu and Hindi films. He lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Over a period of seven years, Jayaraj has established himself as one of the leading composers in South India.

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[edit] Early life

Harris Jayaraj was born into a pious Christian Nadar family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He studied at the Krishnasamy Metric School, Chennai and later obtained a music degree in Trinity College of Music, London, England. His father, S.M. Jayakumar, is a film guitarist who later became a noted Indian musician and composer.

[edit] Career

Harris Jayaraj entered the world of film music as a musician, programing scores and Drum/percussion for many films under the famous Indian Music Director A R Rahman. He started his career by composing beats for TV advertisements. His first music score for a commercial movie was for the Tamil film Minnale (2001). The music was well received, especially the song, "Vaseegara", made the film becoming a big box office hit, running the charts for weeks. After Minnale, Harris composed music for the Tamil movies 12B and Kovil which were once again a huge musical super hit. His first music score in Bollywood was for Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein, a remake of Minnale', which was again, a Hit.

In 2005, he composed for the movies like Anniyan and Ghajini. The song "Suttum Vizhi sudarae" from the film Ghajini, was well received.

Harris has always been the favourite composer of movie director Gautham Menon as both of them are very successful in Tamil film industry, however they have worked "together" in a series of hit movies like Minnale ,Kaaka Kaaka (2003), Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007) and Varanam Aayiram,waiting for release.

[edit] Trivia

  • Jayaraj has said that his favorite musicians are Aruljothi balagopal (who played the tabla for Neem Musicals ) and M.S.Viswanathan.
  • Harris Jayaraj has been a keyboardist and percussionist for various music directors based in South India. He has predominantly worked with world famous Indian music composer A R Rahman , Karthik Raja, Vidhyasagar. He has assisted Adithyan in various projects like Seevalaperi Pandi, Asuran etc.,
  • Harris Jayaraj is also the favourite composer of Vishal. Vishal in an interview said Harris Jayaraj is one of the important person in his life because of the musical hitof the first movie of Vishal, "chellamae".
  • Music Director Dharan who had worked for movies like Parijatham, Sivi etc., has been working under Harris Jayaraj.
  • Some of the singers introduced by Harris Jayaraj include Nakul, Saindhavi, Srilekha Parthasarathy, Madhumitha, Nikhil Matthew, Mahathi and Suchithra Ramanathan.
  • Harris Jayaraj has recently revealed that his choice for singing 'Ragasiya Kanavugal' in Bheema was P.Susheela. However, due to later not in active singing career, he had to opt for Madhushree.

[edit] Filmography

YEAR Tamil Telugu Hindi
2001 Minnale Cheli Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (2001)
2001 12B 12B
2001 Majunu
2002 Lesa Lesa
2002 Vetri Vasu
2002 Samurai Samurai
2003 Saamy
2003 Arasatchi Judgement
2003 Kovil
2003 Kaaka Kaaka Gharshana (2004)
2004 Chellamae Prema Chadarangam
2004 Arul Arul
2005 Thotti Jaya Jalakanta
2005 Ullam Ketkumae Preminchi Chudu
2005 Anniyan Aparichithudu Aparichit
2005 Ghajini Ghajini
2006 Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu Raghavan
2006 Kumaran Sainikudu
2007 Pachaikili Muthucharam Dhrohi 2007
2007 Unnale Unnale Neevalle Neevalle
2007 Munna
2008 Bheema Bheema
2008 Dhaam Dhoom
2008 Sathyam Salute
2008 Vaaranam Aayiram
2008 Ayan

[edit] Personal life

Jayaraj is married to Joyce [formerly Suma]. The couple have a son called Samuel Nicholas and a daughter called Karen Nikita. His father Jayakumar is a noted evangelistic musician.

[edit] External links