T. M. Soundararajan

Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1922 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades.

He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs.

Soundararajan was born in Madurai, the second son of Meenakshi Iyengar and Venkatammaa on 24 March 1922.

He was born in a prominent Saurashtra Brahmin family and his elder brother was a scholar.

He trained his voice starting at age seven.

He first studied Carnatic music from Chinnakonda Sarangapani Bhagavathar, a music teacher from Sourashtra High School, Madurai.

Later, he learned Carnatic music from Arayakkudi Rajamani Iyer and started giving stage concerts at the age of 23.

He gave classical concerts starting in 1943.

He lent his voice to actors and thespians in the Tamil film industry such as M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, N. T. Rama Rao, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, Jaishankar, Ravichandran, A. V. M. Rajan, R. Muthuraman, Nagesh, Sivakumar, Kantha Rao, Rajkumar, Prem Nazir and A. Nageswara Rao.

He also gave his voice to many new generation actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Vijayakanth, Satyaraj, Rajesh, Prabhu, and 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, T S Balayya, Jagayya, Nagayya, Thyagarajan, Sreenath, Shankar etc.

In a career spanning over six and half decades, he rode like a colossus and dominated Tamil music for decades.

Besides primarily Tamil, he also sang in other languages including Sourashtra, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam.

He was a lyricist and music composer for many devotional songs.

He was the music director for the film Bala Parikshai.

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.

His first film song was in 1946, at the age of 24, and his last was with P. Susheela during 2010 at the age of 88.

He married Sumithra in 1946 with whom he had three sons and three daughters.

He lived in his home at Mandaveli, Chennai, Tamil Nadu until his death.

Soundararajan was initially rejected by music composers and recording technicians because his voice was cracking and showed variation in higher pitches.

He started working in the house of Sundar Rao Nadkarni, a director in the Central Studios, hoping to get a chance to sing in movies.

The director recommended him to S. M. Subbaiah Naidu.

In 1946, Naidu gave TMS an opportunity to sing five songs in the style of M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar for a film of P. V. Narasimha Bharathi: Krishna Vijayam.

Though the songs were noted since 1946, the film was released in 1950.

One of his songs in that movie, "Raathey Ennai Vittu Pogathedi," became a hit and he was paid Rs 625.

In the same year (1950), G. Ramanathan had him sing "Annamitta Veettiley" for an unknown actor in the film Manthiri Kumari.

In 1951, TMS acted and sang "Theeraatha Thuyaralley" in the film Devagi again by G. Ramanathan.

In 1952, S. Dakshinamurthi gave TMS two duet songs in the movie Valaiyapathi – "Kulir Thaamarai Poigaiyai Kanden" and "Kulungidum Poovilellaam" – both with singer K. Jamuna Rani where TMS had an opportunity to sing songs written by the renowned Tamil poet Bharathidasan.

G. Ramanathan had TMS and K. Rani sing for Kalyani.

In 1953, when Albela was dubbed into Tamil, the music director C. Ramchandra had two duets by TMS and M. S. Rajeswari: "Joraga Paadi Anbaaga Aadi" and "Thozhi Un Kann Edhire Kodi".

Even though these songs were well received, there were no further chances for TMS for a while.

Then TMS went to HMV studio where K. V. Mahadevan recorded two devotional songs for which he was paid just Rs 80.

Mahadevan told TMS to seek a chance with AVM Productions which was looking for new voices.

TMS sang two songs for the film Chella Pillai.

One was a solo ("Podanum Kulla Podanum") and the other was a duet with M.S. Rajeswari ("Naadu Nadakkira Nadayiley") under R. Sudarsanam's composition.

His peak period as a male playback singer in the South Indian film industry was from 1955 to 1985.

The film was released in 1955.

These music composers helped and trained the determined and ambitious TMS, who was able to overcome his voice problems to a good degree with time.

TMS died on 25 May 2013 at his residence in Mandaveli, Chennai due to illness.

He was 91 years old.