Raghav
| Raghav | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raghav Mathur |
| Born |
April 2, 1981 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Origin | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Genres | Pop, R&B, reggae fusion |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, executive producer |
| Years active | 2003-present |
| Labels |
A&R/V2 (UK) 2003 - 2007, Universal Music (India) 2009, Cordova Bay (Canada) 2010 - Present, Ultra (USA) 2012 - Present |
| Website | www.raghav.com |
Raghav Mathur (born April 2, 1981), known professionally as Raghav, is a Canadian singer, currently signed to Cordova Bay Records, recently also to Ultra Records. He is best known for his single "Angel Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005. His singles "So Confused", "Can't Get Enough" and "It Can't Be Right" reached the UK top ten in 2004.
History
Raghav was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Hindu parents from India. His parents soon moved to Calgary and Fort McMurray, Alberta, where he grew up.[1] Raghav attended Sir Winston Churchill High School, at the age of 15, music became a heavy feature in his life and alongside the Indian influences at home, became heavily influenced by R&B. By the time he was 16, he wrote a song that was awarded by the National Songwriters Association of U.S.A.[2] At 17, he moved to Los Angeles, California, United States to develop his vocal skills by Seth Riggs who has trained, amongst others, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.[1] A year later he moved to Liverpool, England where he studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.[1] During his time in college, he joined R&B band 11/7 which was nominated for a Mobo Award for best unsigned artist.[1]
Raghav signed for A&R/V2 Records in 2003 and started working with the DJ and producer, 2Play. This led to the production of his breakthrough single: "So Confused". The song was released in 2004, and reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.[3] The next release, "Can't Get Enough", entered the same chart at number 10.[3] In August 2004, another collaboration with 2Play followed, releasing "It Can't Be Right" which reached number 8.[3] Raghav released one more track under his name; "Let's Work It Out" (UK number 15)[3] before his debut album Storyteller was released in September 2004. His final release off the album was "Angel Eyes", inspired by a melody from Murder She Wrote, by Chaka Demus & Pliers, and featured Jucxi and Frankey Maxx. The track reached number 7 in the UK chart.[3] The album also included Kardinal Offishall for the song "Sooner or Later", where he introduced the song and had his own verse in it.[citation needed]. Raghav's worldwide tour of 2005 saw him perform in venues such as Karachi, New York amongst other parts of the world such as Africa, Australia, Canada, and many other countries with crowds reaching up to as high as 35,000.[citation needed] Raghav's Storyteller has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide.[1] Raghav has been featured (along with songwriter D'Vinci ),In the 2007 single "Lonely" by rapper Iceberg Slimm.
In 2009 Raghav announced that he had signed a recording contract with Universal Music India and subsequently released his second album Identity. The album was exclusively released in India. The lead single, "My Kinda Girl" was released as a downloadable track from his website raghav.com for overseas fans and featured hip hop musician, Redman. The album also featured a tribute song called "Quincy Jones" which was dedicated to the Ameriecan record producer Quincy Jones.
In 2010, Raghav signed his first North American record deal with Canadian label Cordova Bay and released his third album; The Phoenix. The first single was the Labyrinth-produced "So Much", which was commercially released in Canada and features Kardinal Offishall. The song was nominated for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the 2011 Canadian Juno Awards. The song was released in conjunction with a Hindi song entitled 'Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya' which featured a sample from the song 'Hold Yuh' by Gyptian. The second single off the album, "Fire", was commercially released in Canada and peaked at number 38 on the Canadian Billboard Hot 100 and #14** CHR (Mediabase) making it Raghav's most successful single in North America to date. A viral video of the song was released on YouTube on 23 August 2011. He performed his song, Top of the World on Breakfast Television on March 22, 2012.
In early 2012, he had collaborated with A. R. Rahman and Shilpa Rao for the song Ishq Shava from the 2012 movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan .In September 2012, Raghav was signed to Ultra Records in New York City. Ultra is planning on releasing Raghav's single 'FIRE' in the USA and worldwide in January 2013.In July 2013, Raghav and rapper TomE were featured in the single "One More Round" by Michael Mind, a well as on "Celebrate" by Apache Indian about a month later . On October 9, 2013, Raghav released a lyric video of his new single single "Woohoo" on his YouTube page.[4]
Discography
Albums
- 2004: Storyteller
- 2009: Identity
- 2012: The Phoenix
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album/Movie | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | UK | |||
| 2003 | "So Confused" (feat. 2Play and Jucxi) |
— | 6 | Storyteller |
| 2004 | "It Can't Be Right" (feat. 2Play and Naila Boss) | — | 8 | |
| "Can't Get Enough"(feat. Iceberg Slimm) | — | 10 | ||
| "Let's Work It Out"(feat. Jahaziel) | — | 11 | ||
| 2005 | "Angel Eyes" (feat. Jucxi & Frankey Maxx) | — | 7 | |
| 2008 | "My Kinda Girl" (feat. Redman) | — | — | Identity |
| "Humrahee" | — | — | ||
| 2010 | "So Much" (feat. Kardinal Offishall) | 56 | — | The Phoenix |
| "Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya" | — | — | ||
| 2011 | "Fire" | 12 | — | |
| "Hey Na Na Shabana" | — | — | Hum Tum Shabana (movie) | |
| 2012 | "Top Of The World" | 82 | — | The Phoenix |
| 2012 | "Ishq Shava" (with Harshdeep Kaur) | — | — | Jab Tak Hai Jaan |
Awards
- 1997: National Songwriters Association of America Award[5]
- 2004: MOBO Award; Best Collaboration
- 2004: Asian Achievers Award
- 2005: Urban Music Awards; Best Chart Act
- 2005: UK Asian Music Awards; Best Newcomer[6]
- 2005: Southern Asian Music Awards; Best Artist
- Nominations
- 2011: "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year" at the Juno Awards of 2011 for his song "So Much" featuring Kardinal Offishall
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Raghav Biography
- ↑ Raghav Discography
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 modda, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 448. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVuZv04yXbk
- ↑ "Raghav Awards". Retrieved 12-11-2010.
- ↑ "Artists unite to celebrate British Asian Music". Retrieved 24 August 2010.