Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an award-winning composer and playback singer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composing trio team for many Indian films. He is a four-time winner of the National Award: three times for Best Male Playback Singer and once for Best Music Director.
Shankar Mahadeven learned Hindustani Classical Music in his childhood and began playing Veena at the age of five. He is the founder of Shankar Mahadevan Academy, which provides online music lessons in Indian music to students worldwide.
The playback singer/composer is well-versed in five languages: Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Urudu and English. The song “Enna solapogirai” from the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) got him the first National Award under Best Male Playback Singer category. At the regular of four years from there on, he received one National Award till 2012. The song “Bolo na” from the Hindi movie Chittagong (2012) got him a National Award recently.
Shankar Mahadeven has worked with all the popular music directors in India including Illayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Harris Jayaraj and the current young rock star Anirudh Ravichandar. He performs in various prominent concerts happening all around the world.