INFORMATION
Artist Birthday : | 25/04/1987 (Age 37) |
Born In : | West Bengal |
Occupation(s) : | Playback Singer |
Genres : | Pop |
Born to a Punjabi father and Bengali mother, the 31-year-old Arijit Singh is the singing sensation of India who has mesmerized audience with his melodious voice. Arijit was born on April 25, 1987, in Jiaganj, Murshidabad, West Bengal. His family from the maternal side used to sing, and the young Arijit had a knack of vocals as well.
He studied at the Raja Bijay Singh High School and then Sripat Singh College where he was a good student but focused more of his time on music. He is a trained classical musician and tabla player and learned the art from Rajendra Prasad Hazari and Dhirendra Prasad Hazari. He also learned Rabindra Sangeet under Birendra Prasad Hazari. His training began at age 3, and by the time he turned 9, he received a government scholarship for training in Indian classical music vocals.
At the age of 18, his teacher Rajendra Prasad Hazari encouraged him to participate in Fame Gurukul, a reality TV program on national TV, focused on singers. He reached the finals of the episode but finished in sixth place. However, he faced some twists and turns in life after the show wrapped up. Sanjay Leela Bhansali made him record the song “Yun Shabnami” for the movie Saawariya which was never released with the film. Tips boss Kumar Taurani signed him for an album, but that too was never released.
However, tough times didn’t deter him. He won a reality TV show 10 ke 10 Le Gaye Dil and then shifted to Mumbai in 2006 to find his fate. During this time, he lived in a rented room in Lokhandwala and invested the prize money from the show to build his own recording studio, becoming a music producer. He also sang for advertisements and worked as a music programmer for Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal–Shekhar, and Pritam.
In 2010 he sung some scratches for Telugu films like “Neeve Na Neeve Na.” However, his big break came with composer Mithoon, with whom he recorded “Phir Mohabbat” for the movie Murder 2. The song was an instant hit, even though it was recorded in 2009 and released in 2011. The song “Raabta” from the movie Agent Vinod further cemented his reputation.
His next hits came with songs “Phir Le Aaya Dil” from the movie Barfi, the composition “Duaa” from the movie Shanghai and then his breakout hit “Tum Hi Ho” from the movie Aashiqui 2 which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer.
Arijit has always loved Mozart, Beethoven and Bengali classical but he also finds inspiration from Anand Chatterjee, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan and Zakir Hussain. Other influences from music came from Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, and Kishore Kumar.
Arijit is married to his childhood friend Koyel Roy, who he has two children with. He currently lives in Andheri, Mumbai.