Harish Raghavendra

Harish Raghavendra is an Indian vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. His real name is Harish Ram Srinivas (told by him in an interview) & son to a photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like Hey Azhagiya Theeyee from Minnale, Nirpadhuve Nadapadhuve from Barathi, Devathayai Kanden from Kadhal Kondein, Sakkarai Nilave from Youth, Melliname Melliname from Shahjahan and Anbe Enn Anbe from Dhaam Dhoom. He has also acted in certain movies from the Tamil Cinema Industry. He played the main role in the movie Vikadan with Arun Pandian in 2003 and he also played a brother-role for to Ajith Kumar in Thirupathi, which was written and directed by Perarasu.

Career

Harish officially made his debut into the music industry as a singer at the age of 18. His first song was a Telugu song for the movie Panjaram and he subsequently sung 'Vaa Saghi' for the movie Arasiyal which starred mega-star Mammootty as the hero. The song happened to be a hit it didn't stay for long. He was also in his first year of college. After that, he was not really active in the music industry. In the mean time, he continued his studies and finally manage to hold a Degree in Commerce from Vivekananda College and Masters in Mass Communication & Journalism. He took up Software Engineering as well. Software Engineering would have been his main career if music didn't shine fortune in him. Being a police officer was also of one his ambition when he was studying.

Then, he was back again into music industry through the well known classical song Nirpadhuve Nadapathuve from the movie Barathi. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraja. The song became a massive hit back in the year 2000 & it brought him fame along with Tamil Nadu State award. Moreover, that was the time he changed his name from Harish to Harish Raghavendra. Before he could even join the software industry, Ye Azhagiye Theeye from Minnale scored a roaring success back to back. Since then, he sung over 4000 songs for more than 200 movies. He has worked for most of the well known music composers that include Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vidyasagar, D. Imman, Vijay Antony & many others. However Harish's Mudhal Mazhaye album did not pick up that well in the market. But his charming sharp voice has always been a point of attraction for many music directors, so he managed to sing in various languages such as Tamil (his main passion), Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam & Hindi. He has sung some devotional songs as well. After 'Panjaram', He sang for the Telugu film "Neetho' under Vidyasagar's baton. I've since sung for about thirty songs for Telugu, including for films like 'Cheli' and 'Priyadarshini'.

Today Harish is considered to be one of the professional singers in Tamil Music Industry as he has sung many wonderful hits for the major music directors. He has also judged many reality shows along with few other famous singers. Harish has also done a number of live concerts in certain countries as well. Lately, he also grabbed a Diploma in Yoga in Krishnamacharya style.

His words about Ilayaraja, "Illaiyaraja is a hard taskmaster and a perfectionist. It's really tough singing for him, because he does not let go till he gets the result he wants. It's like a training ground for any singer, and singing for him".^[1]

Soundtracks

References

Other links

For more info about Harish Raghavendra Soundtracks go to: http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/artist/Harish_Raghavendra.html