T.M. Soundararajan
| T. M. Soundararajan | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | TMS |
| Born |
24 March 1922 Madurai, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Origin | Madurai, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Died | 25 May 2013 (aged 91) Chennai, India |
| Genres | Playback singing and Classical musician |
| Occupation(s) | Singer and actor |
| Instruments | Vocal |
| Years active | 1946–2013 |
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1922 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was a playback singer in Kollywood for over six decades. He lent his voice to actors and thespians in the South Indian film industry such as M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, N. T. Rama Rao, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, Jaishankar, Ravichandar, AVM Rajan, Muthuraman, Nagesh, Siva Kumar, Kantha Rao, Rajkumar and A. Nageswara Rao. He also gave his voice to many new generation actors like Kamalahasan, Rajanikanth, Vijayakanth, Satyaraj, Rajesh, Prabhu, Vijaya Kumar, in addition to other known and unknown heroes and supporting actors like M.R. Radha, K R Ramaswami, T. Rajendar, V.K. Ramaswami, Thengai Sreenivasan, M.N. Nambiar, Thangavelu, Y.G. Mahendran, R.S. Manohar, S.V. Ashokan, Ranjan, Narasimha Bharathi, Sahasra Namam, Jagayya, Nagayya, etc. He has sung over 10,138 songs from 3162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs. He has also given classical concerts since 1945.
In a career spanning over six decades he has recorded film songs in 11 languages including, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and other languages. He was an excellent lyricist, music composer for most of the evergreen devotional songs that were recorded in thousands by numbers. He was the music director for the film Bala Parikshai. His peak period as a male playback singer in the South Indian film industry was from 1955 to 1985. His first film song was in 1946, at the age of 24, and his last was with P. Suseela during 2010 at the age of 88. TMS died on 25 May 2013 at his residence in Mandaveli, Chennai due to illness. He was 91 years old.
Soundararajan was born in Madurai, the second son of the Meenakshi Iyengar and Venkatammaa on 24 March 1922. He was born in a prominent priest family and his elder brother was a scholar.
He trained his voice since he was 7 years old. He first studied Carnatic music from Chinnakonda Sarangapani Bhagavathar, a music teacher from Sourashtra High School, Madurai. Later, he learnt Carnatic music from Arayakkudi Rajamani Iyengar and started giving stage concerts at the age of 23. His first Carnatic musical concert was at SathGuru Samajam, Madurai in 1945 with violinist C. R. Mani and Mridangist S. S. Vijaya Ratnam accompanying him on the instruments. He started singing in stage concerts in the voice of the then-famous classical singer and actor M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.
...
Wikipedia