KK (singer)

Krishnakumar Kunnath
KK Performing Live at Alive India in Concert, Bangalore, India in Jan 2016
Background information
Native name	केके (Hindi),
Birth name	Krishnakumar Kunnath
Also known as	KK, K.K. or Kay Kay
Born	(1968-08-23) 23 August 1968 New Delhi, India
Genres	Playback singing, Indipop
Occupation(s)	Singer, composer
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Sony Music
Website	themesmerizer.com

Krishnakumar Kunnath (born 23 August 1968), popularly known as KK, K.K. or Kay Kay, (Hindi: केके, is an Indian singer. He is a prominent singer in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films.^[1]

Born in Delhi to Malayali parents C.S. Nair and Kanakavalli,^[2] Krishnakumar Kunnath was brought up in New Delhi.^[3] KK sang 3,500 jingles before breaking into Bollywood.^[4] He is an alumnus of Delhi's Mount St Mary's School.^[4] He sang in the "Josh of India" song for the support of Indian Cricket Team during Cricket World Cup of 1999.^[5]

His debut album Pal was released in April 1999. The album received a Star Screen Award from Screen India for Best Solo Album.^[6]

His second album, Humsafar, was released nine years later, in January 2008. It belongs to the pop-rock genre and has a total of 10 songs. Humsafar has two songs that are repeated from his earlier album Pal – "Din Ho Ya Raat" and "Mehki Hawa". The video for a romantic song on the album, "Aasman Ke", features the singer and south Indian model Suhasi Goradia Dhami. "Humsafar", the title track, has an interplay of English and Hindi lyrics and is about one's conscience and how it is a constant companion in the journey of life. One of the songs, "Yeh Kahan Mil Gaye Hum", was penned seven years before the release. "Dekho Na", a rock number, was written six years prior. The remaining six songs were developed in the last two years before the release. Other songs in the album include "Rain Bhai Kaari (Maajhi)", a mix of Bengali Baul with rock with a tinge of S D Burman, and "Cineraria", a fun-filled English ballad. KK himself wrote the lyrics of "Cineraria" and the English part of "Humsafar", the title track, while the remaining tracks were written by others.

KK has established himself as a successful playback singer of India. He is considered as one of the most versatile singer of India.

Personal life

KK with his wife Jyothy, son Nakul Krishna and daughter Taamara

KK married his childhood sweetheart Jyothi Krishna in 1991.^[7] His son Nakul Krishna sang a song "Masti" from his latest album Humsafar with him.^[8] KK also has a daughter named Taamara who loves playing piano according to KK. KK claims that his family is his source of energy.

Vocals and musical style

KK has been greatly influenced by the singer Kishore Kumar and music director R. D. Burman. Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Bryan Adams are also favourite Hollywood singers of KK. KK is the only singer who can't attune to the concept that a singer's face must be prominently seen. KK believes in "A singer must be heard.".^[9] KK has never undergone any formal training in music. KK has a sweet soft-pitched soulful fresh and melodious voice, he can sing any type of songs, either high-pitched or low-pitched. He has a superb versatility in his singing.

Career

After graduating from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University in commerce. KK had a brief stint of eight months as marketing executive in the hotel industry. After few years, in 1994, he moved to Mumbai.^[7]

Playback singing

Performing Live at The JockeyClub Auditorium, Hong Kong

In 1994, he gave his demo tape to Louis Banks, Ranjit Barot and Lesle Lewis to get a break in the music arena. He was called by UTV and he sang a jingle for Santogen Suiting ad.^[8] In a span of four years, he has sung more than 3,500 jingles in 11 Indian languages. He got the first break in Mumbai from UTV to sing jingles. He considers Lesle Lewis as his mentor for giving him his first jingle to sing in Mumbai.^[7] KK was introduced as a playback singer with A. R. Rahman's hit song "College Styley" and "Hello Dr." from Kadir's Kadhal Desam and then "Strawberry Kannae" from AVM Productions's musical film Minsara Kanavu (1997).^[10] Pritam Chakraborty is also a fan of him. He got his Bollywood break with "Tadap Tadap" from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). He has also won prestigious National Award for "Tu Aashiqui Hai" from movie Jhankar Beats in 2004.^[10] However, prior to this song he had sung a small portion of the song "Chhod Aaye Hum" from Gulzar's Maachis. Till now, KK has sung more than 500 songs in Hindi and more than 200 songs in Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages.^[11] He has worked with almost every music director of Hindi film industry active from 1999. He has lent his voice to the biggest hit song this year (2014) "Tune Maari Entriyaan" among several others in Gunday. KK's new song from the movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan called "Tu Jo Mila" has already become a rage, many times remained No.1 on iTunes. Popular singer Arijit Singh claims, he has been inspired by KK in singing, and is a big fan of KK.^[12] Another popular Bollywood singer, Ankit Tiwari also claims, he has been greatly influenced by KK and he takes KK as his idol and inspiration.^[13]

Albums and television

KK Performing Live at Alive India in Concert (Bangalore), Jan 2016

In 1999, Sony Music had just been launched in India and they were looking to launch a new artiste. KK was selected as the new artiste and he came out with a solo album titled Pal with Lesle Lewis composing the music. The album was arranged, composed and produced by Lesle Lewis of Colonial Cousins. The lyrics have been penned by Mehboob. The songs "Aap Ki Dua", "Yaaron" and the title track "Pal" in no time ruled the lips of youngsters & also the music chart. "Pal" became an anthem & "Yaaron" became friendship anthem. The album just created history. Pal was the first album released by KK under Sony Music for which he got the prestigious Screen award as best singer. He is very good friend of Jeevan Deep Prakash—Only resource of OCMC in India )

On 22 January 2008, KK released his second album Humsafar after a gap of eight years.^[14] The songs "Aasman Ke", "Dekho Na", "Yeh Kahan Mil Gaye Hum" and "Rain Bhai Kaari (Maajhi)" are famous songs from this album. Besides, KK had also sung an English Rock Ballad "Cineraria". The title track, "Humsafar" is a mix of English and Hindi lyrics. The album Humsafar has 10 songs, out of which eight have been composed by KK. The other two songs were taken from his previous album Pal.

KK has also sung many television serial songs like Just Mohabbat, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, Kuch Jhuki Si Palkein, Kavyanjali, Just Dance . He has also sung the theme song for Star Parivaar Awards 2010 with Shreya Ghoshal. KK appeared on television too. He was invited as jury member for a talent hunt show Fame Gurukul.^[15]

KK also has sung a song named "Tanha Chala" for famous Pakistani TV show "THE GHOST" which was aired on Hum TV in 2008. The song was composed by Farrukh Abid & Shoiab Farrukh & Momina Duraid penned the lyrics.

KK participated in the latest musical venture of MTV India Coke Studio. There he sang one qawwali "Chadta Suraj" along with Sabri Brothers and a recomposed version of his exquisite track "Tu Aashiqui Hai" from movie Jhankaar Beats. He also came in 'Surili Baat' in Aaj Tak Chanel. He has also performed in Sony Mix TV Show and MTV Unplugged Season 3, aired on MTV 11 January 2014.KK was in Dubai for his concert 'Salaam Dubai 2014'in April. He also did recent concerts in Goa, Dubai & Chennai.Hong kong.

On 29 August 2015, KK appeared in the glorious television singing reality show Indian Idol Junior Season 2 to cheer up the emerging singers of India where he performed "Khuda Jaane", "Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar", "Make Some Noise For The Desi Boyz", "Ajab Si", "Sach Kehraha Hai Deewana" and many more songs with the junior idols and "Tu Aashiqui Hai" with Vishal Dadlani, "Aashaayen" with Salim Merchant and "Tadap Tadap" with Sonakshi Sinha. After 10 years, He appeared in a Singing reality show as a judge and guest jury member.

On 13 September 2015, KK came in "Baaton Baaton Mein" on Sony Mix.

Other projects

In 2013, KK sang for an international album, Rise Up - Colors of Peace, which consists of songs written by Turkish poet Fetullah Gulen and sung by artists from 12 countries. KK recorded a song named "Rose of My Heart" for the album.

In 2010, the Indi Band "BANDISH" produced their second self-titled album. The album has a high energy track in the album Tere Bin — a rock ballad sung by KK. Drummer Chris Powell said "Even though he is a playback singer, he is a true rockstar in his heart".

Albums

Upcoming projects

KK has many upcoming songs in his kit such as "Musafir Hoon Main" composed by Mithoon & written by Amitabh Verma & Mithoon for the film Shab

Discography

KK performing in 2009

Selected Chartbusters

• Waqt Gaya Tham (Fredrick)
• Afreen Afreen "(1920 London)"
• O Meri Jaan "(Raaz Reboot)"

Awards and honours

South

Hindi

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Krishnakumar Kunnath.

• KK at the Internet Movie Database
• KK on Twitter