A. M. Rajah
| A. M. Rajah | |
|---|---|
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A. M. Rajah and his wife, P. G. Krishnaveni (Jikki)
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| Background information | |
| Born |
1 July 1929 Ramapuram, Madras Presidency, British Raj |
| Died | 8 April 1989 (aged 59) Valliur, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Genres | Film music |
| Occupation(s) | Playback singer, Music Director |
| Instruments | Vocalist, Pianist |
| Years active | 1950s, early 1960s, early 1970s |
Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah was popularly known as A. M. Rajah or Rajah. His songs were featured in numerous Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, Hindi and sinhalese films in the 1950s, early 1960s and early 1970s. He also composed music for several films.
A. M. Rajah was born on 1 July 1929 in Ramachandrapuram, Chittoor District in present-day Andhra Pradesh to Manmadharaju and Lakshmamma. His father died when he was three months old and then the family moved to Renukapuram and Madras (Chennai) later. His tertiary education was at Pachaiyappa's College from where he graduated with a B.A. Degree. By this time, Rajah was an accomplished piano player and had won several prizes in singing competitions. He was well versed in Carnatic Music and Western Classical Music. He was also highly influenced by the Hindi and Gazal music and was the only answer from the South to North Indian singers like Talat Mehmood, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi and Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay.
During his University days, Rajah wrote, composed and sang two songs in his mother tongue, Telugu, with the instrumental support of the music director K. V. Mahadevan for HMV which were broadcast by All India Radio. Gemini Studios boss S. S. Vasan listened to these songs and, impressed, booked him for his next film, Samsaram (1951) with the approval of his music director, Emani Sankara Sastry, and also his good friend Kalki Krishnamurthy. By this time Rajah was also already recording songs for the films Rajambal (for R. S. Manohar, incidentally his senior in the University) with P. Leela and Kumaari (for M. G. Ramachandran) with Jikki for music composers M. S. Gnanamani and K. V. Mahadevan respectively. Rajah, with instant popularity after the Samsaram songs came on the air, went on to sing in various languages, including Hindi and was the uncrowned prince of the South in the early and mid-1950s.He was equally successful in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films.
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