Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian Composer and Singer-songwriter.
He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films.
Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Western music elements and often credited with having introduced hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu which included mixed EDM and jazz.
He is frequently referred to as the "BGM King" and the "Young Maestro" of Tamil Film Music.
Yuvan has won two Filmfare Awards South, five Mirchi Music Awards South, three Vijay Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
Within a span of 25 years, Yuvan has worked on over 170 films.
Yuvan Shankar Raja was born on 31 August 1979.
He is the third and youngest child of musician and film composer Ilaiyaraaja.
He is the younger brother of music director Karthik Raja and playback singer-music director Bhavatharini.
Yuvan once confessed that his brother Karthik Raja was more talented than him, but he did not get a successful break into the music business since he did not get a "good team to work with".
His father as well as his siblings have sung many songs under his direction.
Film director and film composer Gangai Amaran and R. D. Bhaskar are his uncles and their sons Venkat Prabhu, Premgi Amaren and Parthi Bhaskar, who are working in the Tamil film industry as well, are his cousins.
Yuvan Shankar did his schooling at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai, and discontinued his education after his tenth class.
He started learning music from Jacob Master, attending piano classes at "Musee Musical" in Chennai, which is affiliated to Trinity College in London, UK.
Yuvan Shankar Raja stated that he always wanted to become a pilot and travel "all around the world", but as he grew up "with music around him", he eventually became a musician.
He admires the work of his father and other composers such as S. D. Burman, R. D. Burman, M. S. Viswanathan and Naushad Ali and the voices of singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, P. B. Sreenivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, and P. Susheela.
1996
Being the youngest son of composer Ilaiyaraaja, he began his musical career in 1996, at the age of 16, when he composed the film score for Aravindhan.
In 1996, following his mother's suggestion to take up music as a profession, Yuvan Shankar Raja started composing tunes for an album.
T. Siva, the producer of the Tamil language film Aravindhan, after hearing some of the tunes, asked him to compose a trailer music score.
As Siva was impressed by the music, he gave Yuvan Shankar the assignment to compose the entire film score, including a soundtrack for that film.
After consulting and getting consent from his parents, he accepted the offer; his music career started.
His entry into the Tamil film and music industry had happened at age 16, thus he became one of the youngest composers ever in the industry, which he says, was "purely accidental".
1998
However, both the soundtrack album as well as the film itself failed to attract audiences and do well, and Yuvan Shankar Raja's following projects Velai (1998) and Kalyana Galatta (1998) were not successful either; his compositions for these films did not receive good reviews or responses, with one reviewer labelling the music and background score in the latter as "cacophony" and "poor".
The failures of his first projects meant that he was not offered any film projects and assignments subsequently.
1999
During this time of struggle, he was approached and assigned by director Vasanth to compose the music for his film Poovellam Kettuppar (1999).
The soundtrack received a very positive response, being described as "fresh" and "different", with a critic from The New Indian Express citing that his "absolutely enchanting musical score [...] bears testimony to his "Raja" surname."
The album became very popular, particularly songs such as "Irava Pagala" and "Chudithar Aninthu", gaining him first time notice, especially among young people and children.
The album would make possible his first breakthrough in the industry and proved to be a major turning point in his career.
After working for two Sundar C.. films, Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1999) and Rishi (2000), he got to work for A. R. Murugadoss's directorial debut in 2000, the action flick Dheena, starring Ajith Kumar, which went on to become a blockbuster and Yuvan Shankar Raja's first major successful film.
Yuvan Shankar's songs were equally successful, which are considered to have played a major role in the film's great success, while his background score in the film was also well appreciated.
2001
In 2001, he had three album releases, the first being Thulluvadho Ilamai, collaborating with Selvaraghavan for the first time.
The film was directed by Kasthuri Raja, but his son Selvaraghavan wrote the script and worked with Yuvan Shankar Raja for the film's soundtrack album.
The soundtrack album of Thulluvadho Ilamai particularly appealed to the younger generation.
The film itself, marking the debut of Selvaraghavan's brother Dhanush, released one year later and became a sleeper hit at the Chennai box office.
This was followed by Bala's Nandha (2001), for which he received rave reviews.
2002
He got his breakthrough with the Thulluvadho Ilamai (2002) soundtrack, and established himself as one of Tamil cinema's most sought-after composers by the mid-2000s.
2004
He won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil in 2004 for his score in the drama 7G Rainbow Colony.
2006
In 2006, he became the only Indian composer to win the Cyprus International Film Festival Award for the soundtrack of Raam.
2009
He also won the Filmfare Special Award – South in 2009 for his Telugu musical Oy!.
2015
In 2015, Yuvan created his own music label, U1 Records and in 2017, he started his own film production studio, YSR Films.
