Arijit Singh Early Life, Career, Family, Age, Facts, Affairs, Personal Life, Musical Style, Hobby, Awards, Nominations, Wiki, Biography

Full name: Arijit Singh

Birth date:25 April 1987

Birth place: Jiaganj, Murshidabad, West Bengal

Education: University of Kalyani

Occupation: Playback Singer

Years active:2007-present 

Spouse (s): Koel Roy

Religion: Hinduism 

Zodiac sign: Taurus

Early Life

Singh was born on 25 April 1987 in Jiaganj, Murshidabad, West Bengal to a Punjabi father and a Bengali mother. He began his music training at a young age at home. His maternal aunt trained in Indian classical music, and his maternal grandmother used to sing. His maternal uncle played the tabla, and his mother also sang and played the tabla. He studied at Raja Bijay Singh High School and later at the Sripat Singh College, a University of Kalyani affiliate. According to him he "was a decent student, but cared more about music" and his parents decided to train him professionally. He was taught Indian classical music by Rajendra Prasad Hazari and trained in tabla by Dhirendra Prasad Hazari. Birendra Prasad Hazari taught him Rabindra Sangeet (songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore) and pop music. At the age of three he started training under the Hazari brothers, and at the age of nine, he got a scholarship from the government for training in vocals in Indian classical music.

Growing up, he listened to Mozart, Beethoven and Bengali classical music.[citation needed] He idolised musicians like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Zakir Hussainand Anand Chatterjee, and enjoyed listening to Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey.

In 2014 Singh married Koyel Roy, a childhood friend. He has two children.

Singh resides in Andheri, Mumbai.

Early career

Singh's musical career began when his guru Rajendra Prasad Hazari, who felt that "Indian classical music was a dying tradition", insisted he leave his hometown and participate in the reality show Fame Gurukul (2005) at the age of 18. He approached the finals of the programme but was eliminated by audience polling, finishing in sixth place.

During the show, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali recognised his talent and had him sing "Yun Shabnami" a song scheduled to be used in his upcoming film Saawariya. During production, the script changed and the song was no longer required. It was never released. After the Fame Gurukul, Kumar Taurani, the head of Tips, signed him for an album which was never released.

He won another reality show 10 Ke 10 Le Gaye Dil. He chose to move to Mumbai in the 2006 to freelance, staying in a rented room in the Lokhandwala area of the city. He invested the prize money from 10 ke 10 Le Gaye Dil to build his own recording studio. He became a music producer and began composing music and singing pieces for advertisements, news channels and radio stations.

Singh spent part of his early musical career as a music programmer and music producer for music directors such as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Mithoon, Monty Sharma and Pritam. While working with other composers he supervised the vocals, and the chorus sections. But it was while working with Pritam, that he began to produce and programme music by himself.

2010–13: Early releases and Aashiqui 2

In 2010, Singh started working with Pritam Chakraborty on three films—Golmaal 3, Crook and Action Replayy. He started with singing scratches in the Telugu Film Industrywith the 2010 film Kedi with the song "Neeve Na Neeve Na" composed by Sandeep Chowta. In 2011, Singh made his Bollywood musical debut with the Mithooncomposition, "Phir Mohabbat" from Murder 2, which though he recorded it in 2009 was released in 2011. The same year, when he was programming for the song "Raabta" from Agent Vinod (2012), Pritam asked him to sing as well. The part was retained in all four versions of the song, and he was made to sing the entire composition in one of the versions. Apart from Agent Vinod, Arijit dubbed for Pritam in three other films released during the year: Players, Cocktail and Barfi!.

He also lent his voice to Chirantan Bhatt in 1920: Evil Returns for the song "Uska Hi Banana". Glamsham in its review of the song "Uska Hi Banana" wrote that Arijit had sung the song intensely, emotionally and passionately and at a very high pitch.

He sang on Vishal–Shekhar's composition "Duaa" in the film Shanghai. It fetched him the Mirchi Music Award for Upcoming Male Playback Singer award. He was nominated in the same category for "Phir Le Aya Dil" from Barfi!.

Arijit's major breakthrough came in Aashiqui 2 where he was a lead and key vocalist and came to prominence with the release of the song "Tum Hi Ho" from the movie. The song fetched him several awards and nominations including Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer.

Vocals and musical style

In an interview with The Times of India, Singh mentioned that he has a "natural voice" and said he did nothing special to maintain it. He has described his voice as "nasal" and believes that it matches with all the actors. Shekhar Ravjiani of the music director duo Vishal–Shekhar wrote that Singh's "vocal texture is brilliant. The way he emotes and the soul he puts into each song is exemplary."India Today describes his voice as "raw and grainy", whereas the paper's Moeena Halim identifies his voice as soulful and baritone, while the International Business Times considers his voice "soothing". Koimoi, in a review, commended his voice. Bollywood Hungama, in a review of Aashiqui 2, described Singh as a singer with a "rich texture and depth in his voice". However, they suggested he should "sing smoothly", without heavy breaths in between. NewsX acclaimed Singh's voice.

Singh has said that he would most like to explore the classical music style. He has also said that he loves singing folk music, and likes all genres except for heavy metal music—since it is too loud for him. Singh is most commonly known for his romantic songs and was associated with the tag "romantic singer". Regarding that, Singh said the tag of romantic singer is unintentional, as he has not planned his career. He is happy with the songs that come his way and tries to do his best. Singh does not believe that doing just one type of song is "hampering" his growth. However, through his career, he has explored different musical styles, including; a club party song "Raat Bhar", an electronic "Blame The Night", a Punjabi Folk "Samjhawan", a Sufi or Qawwali song "Mast Magan" and a ghazal titled "Gulon Mein Rang Bhare". Regarding the variety, Hindustan Times stated; "he can sing nice fun songs as well". According to Krsna "A vocalist needs to have all genres of music at his fingertips and Arijit has that."While reviewing the soundtrack of Main Tera Hero, Bollywood Hungama felt he "shines" in the form, which is a "totally different setup" from what he has done before.

In media

Singh has often been portrayed by the Indian media as a "small town boy who made it big".

Humanitarian works

Singh said in an interview that he would love to serve people through his NGO named "Let There Be Light" which works for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) community. His NGO aims to include activities like blood bank camp (with proof and records and photographs of all the blood being delivered properly), distribution of clothes, books, stationery, etc. to Below Poverty Line children on a huge scale and seasonal human ground activities.

Personal life

Hobbies and other works

According to Singh, apart from being a singer, he is a badminton player, a writer, a movie freak and a documentary maker. He also likes cricket, football and his favourite sportsmen are Sachin Tendulkar, Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes. He is an ardent football fan, his favourite teams are Brazil and Argentina and favourite footballers are Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller. In Badminton, he likes Saina Nehwal.

Arijit enjoys listening to retro songs by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and the classical and ghazal songs along with the music of Coldplay. He expressed his desire to work with artist Norah Jones someday as he loves her music. He says he is uncomfortable with all the attention that fame has brought.

Arijit completed shooting for his directorial debut in 2015. Titled Bhalobasar Rojnamcha, it is a Bengali feature film compiled with seven short films. Co-written by Singh, a work-in-progress version of the film has been sent to some film festivals abroad.

In an interview given to Mid-day.com in the December 2016, Arijit said "Independent music in India needs to be redefined" and he is working on some "independent music projects" but he believes that Bollywood music overpowers independent music, and there is lack of infrastructure and platform for independent music in India, and it is difficult to produce it in India.

Discography

List of songs recorded by Arijit Singh

Some of his popular songs include "Channa Mereya", "Tum Hi Ho", "Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga", "Uska Hi Banana", "Aayat", "Raabta", "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", "Gerua", "Janam Janam", "Samjhawan", "Sooraj Dooba Hain", "Zaalima", "Laal Ishq", and "Muskurane".

Filmfare Awards

The Filmfare Awards are one of the oldest and most prestigious Hindi film awards. They are presented annually by The Times Group for excellence of cinematic achievements. Singh has won four awards from eight nominations.

Year	Film	Nominated Song	Result	Ref.
2014	Aashiqui 2	"Tum Hi Ho"	Won
2015	2 States	"Mast Magan"	Nominated
	Youngistaan	"Suno Na Sangemarmar"
2016	Dilwale	"Gerua"
	Roy	"Sooraj Dooba Hain"	Won
2017	Ae Dil Hai Mushkil	"Ae Dil Hai Mushkil"
		"Channa Mereya"	Nominated
2018	Badrinath Ki Dulhania	"Roke Na Ruke Naina"	Won
	Raees	"Zaalima"	Nominated