T. K. Ramamurthy
| T. K. Ramamoorthy டி. கே. ராமமூர்த்தி |
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T. K. Ramamoorthy
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tiruchirapalli Krishnaswamy Ramamoorthy |
| Born | 15 May 1922 |
| Origin | Tiruchirapalli, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Died | 17 April 2013 (aged 90) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation(s) | Film score composer, music director |
| Instruments | keyboard/harmonium/violin |
Tiruchirapalli Krishnaswamy Ramamoorthy (Tamil: திருச்சிராப்பள்ளி கிருஷ்ணசுவாமி இராமமூர்த்தி; 15 May 1922 – 17 April 2013), known as T. K. Ramamoorthy (Tamil: டி. கே. ராமமூர்த்தி), was a South Indian Tamil music composer and violinist.
Ramamoorthy was known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil: மெல்லிசை மன்னர்; "The King of Light Music"), along with M. S. Viswanathan. His major works are in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He and M. S. Viswanathan, as the duo Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, composed musical scores for over 100 films in the South Indian film industry during the 1950s and 1960s. The duo parted amicably in 1965, but eventually rejoined in 1995 after 29 years for Engirundho Vanthan.
At age 91, he died in a hospital in Chennai on 17 April 2013.
Tiruchirapalli Krishnaswamy Ramamoorthy was born in Tiruchirapalli into a family that was musically inclined. Both his father, Krishnaswamy Pillai, and grandfather, Malaikottai Govindasamy Pillai, were well known violinists in Tiruchirapalli. Ramamoorthy gave several stage performances along with his father in his childhood. When he was fourteen, C. R. Subburaman noted the young boy's talent and hired him as a violinist for HMV.
In 1940s, Ramamoorthy worked in Saraswathi stores where AVM Studo's boss, Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar, was a partner in the shop. This led him to play violin for AVM's music composer, R. Sudarsanam, in some films. During these days, he also became friends with P.S. Diwakar, the pianist and music composer in the Malayala films. By late 1940s, C. R. Subburaman, who was a rising star in the South Indian film music world, used Ramamoorthy as one of his violinists in his musical troupe. There, he met violinist and composer T. G. Lingappa, as well as M. S. Viswanathan in 1950, with whom he became a partner in later years.
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