Vibha Sharma

Alyssia Vibha Sharma is an Indian popstar who released her first album in the 1990s. She made her foray into Indian pop domain with her debut album Mehandi (2000), HMV SaReGaMa Records, which was extremely well received by the music lovers and was one of the top 3 best selling private albums of that year. The title song "Mehandi Lagaoongi Main" became a superhit.

Early life and background

Alyssia Vibha Sharma was born and brought up in London and hails from a Hindu Punjabi-Kashmiri Pandit background, she always had a great liking for Indian music. But she never thought of taking up music seriously until she won a singing competition in which more than 3000 South-East Asians from all over Europe had participated.

As a result she took to learning Indian classical music under the tutelage of Parshottam Kapila in London, and later on, when she came to India she continued her training under the guidance of Pandit Ajay Pohankar, Geeta Prem (sister to singer Jagjit Singh), amongst other Gurus.

Aside from her music accomplishments Alyssia has also attained a BSc (Hons) from a University in London as well as post graduate certification qualifications.

Career

Vibha Sharma started her career in Bollywood when she got her first break with Anu Malik, who, once having heard her in London, offered her to sing for two songs in Ishq (1997). Bulandi, Hadh Kar Di Apne, Dil Dhoondhta Hai were other feathers in her cap and she also sung Vaishnva Jana To for Kamal Hassan's controversial film Hey Ram.

She did some more playback singing before launching her first private album with Anand Raj Anand titled 'Mehndi'. This was one of the few private albums that gained a high level of sales around the millennium era and was one of the top 3 best selling private albums in India, which was a great feat for the singer. She also sang a Tamil song for Kartik Raja, son of Illyaraja, Inde Siripinai, which was criticized for wrong pronunciation but despite this, the song was at No.1 in the South Indian music charts for several weeks and later Kartik Raja was quoted to say "I have received a lot of positive feedback from music lovers asking me to work with Vibha Sharma more often".

She is known in the UK as Alyssia Sharma, working with renowned Punjabi DJ's and producers Panjabi Hit Squad releasing an album self-titled 'Alyssia' which was one of the top 5 best-selling albums of the year. Three songs off the album reigned at the No.1 spot on all the primary Asian music charts within UK and Europe. Alyssia was also nominated in the category of 'Best Female Singer' for the UK AMA awards for Deewana.

Alyssia has been performing all over UK and Europe since the release of Deewana. Some of her more prestigious appearances have included the Viva La Glam show sponsored by MAC Make Up company in Toronto, Canada and Apple Store Bollywood Themed Carnival, Regent Street, London.

Sharma released videos for two tracks on her album, Deewana and Tera Pyar Soneya Veh. She featured on Ms.Scandalous' latest album and video, which released in 2008, AAG and released a video of a live rendition of Rab Rakha in 2012.

Alyssia.V.Sharma recorded for Panjabi Hit Squad's album in 2012 and is currently working on her own album simultaneously.

Filmography

Albums

• Mehndi
• Alyssia
• World Famous Compilation Album

References