Franco Simon

Last updated

Franco Simon
Franco Simon.jpg
Background information
Birth nameFranco Simon Neelankavil
Also known asFranko
Born (1974-10-07) 7 October 1974 (age 47)
Origin Thrissur, Kerala, India
Genres Filmi, Pop, Religious music
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active2000 – present

Franco Simon (born 7 October 1974) is an Indian singer [1] and music composer from Kerala. He has sung around 150 Malayalam films songs and 1500 album songs in 5 different languages. He is the nephew of well-known Indian film composer Ouseppachan. He is a recipient of GMMA award and multiple Yuvaprathibha Puraskar for his soundtrack albums.

Contents

Biography

Franco with band members Stephen Devassy(left) and Malaika Arora in a stage event Franco Seven Malaika.jpg
Franco with band members Stephen Devassy(left) and Malaika Arora in a stage event
Franco Simon FrancoSimonCover1.jpg
Franco Simon
Franco Simon performing on Stage FrancoSimon Soorya2.jpg
Franco Simon performing on Stage

Franco Simon Neelankavil was born to Simon N.P. and Alice M.L on 7 October 1974 in Thrissur, Kerala, India. He is the oldest of four children. According to his parents, he has exhibited great interest in music and started singing at a very early age. He had his first on-stage performance when he was only 4 years old and has since won many awards and competitions. Franco completed his B.A. in music from Madras University.

Franco's first cinematic song was En Karalil (Raakshasi) from the movie Nammal in 2002. In 2005, Franco formed a band called Band Seven with Stephen Devassy and Sangeeth Pavithran. An Indian pop band, they released a Hindi album titled Yeh Zindagani. [2] [3] In association with Kosmic Music, Franco has composed numerous Hindu devotional songs in Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit languages. Two of the hit songs from the very popular 2006 Malayalam album Chempakame brought his talents to the limelight when the album stayed on the top requested list for over 2 years. His Christian meditation album Moran Amekh in Sanskrit is unique in the world of meditation music. [4]

Partial Discography

Languages sung

Popular Songs in Malayalam Films [5]

Popular Songs in Tamil Films

Popular songs in Telugu Films

Popular Songs In Hindi Film

Popular songs in English Film

Lead Singer in Bands

Popular Malayalam Albums

Sanskrit Album

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi (composer)</span> Indian composer (1926–2012)

Ravi Shankar Sharma, often referred to mononymously as Ravi, was an Indian music director, who had composed music for several Hindi and Malayalam films. After a successful career in Hindi cinema, he took a break from the 1970s to 1984, and made a successful comeback in the Malayalam music scene under the stage name Bombay Ravi.

Music of Kerala History of the music of Kerala

The music of Kerala has a long and rich history. It is not the same as Malayalam poetry, although most of it is poetry driven. Kerala has a rich tradition in Carnatic music. Songs formed a major part of early Malayalam literature, which traces its origin to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in the culture of Kerala can be established just by the fact that in Malayalam language, musical poetry was developed long before prose. With the development of music in the region, different branches were formed out of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. Jayachandran</span> Indian playback singer

Paliyath Jayachandrakuttan, often credited as P. Jayachandran or Jayachandran, is an Indian playback singer and classical musician from Kerala. Jayachandran is best known for his captivating voice which gave him the title Bhava Gayakan by the music fraternity of South India. He has worked with many composers including G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, V. Dakshinamoorthy, K. Raghavan, M. K. Arjunan, M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Koti, Shyam, A. R. Rahman, M. M. Keeravani and Vidyasagar. He has sung more than 10000 songs in total in different languages.He also acted in few films too.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. G. Sreekumar</span> Indian singer

Malabar Gopalan Nair Sreekumar, is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 25000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He owns a music company named KMG Musics and the Saregama School of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekumar has won several awards, including two National Film Awards, three Kerala State Film Awards and 5 Filmfare Awards South. He was also honoured with the Harivarasanam Award by the Government of Kerala in 2016. His career as a singer spans over 44 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swarnalatha</span> Indian singer

Swarnalatha was an Indian playback singer. In a career spanning almost 22 years, she recorded over 11,000 songs in many Indian languages, including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, and Badaga.

Karthik (singer) Indian playback singer

Karthik is an Indian playback singer and composer. Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung more than 8000 songs in 15 Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Marathi and Hindi.

Pradip Somasundaran Musical artist

Pradip Somasundaran, is an Indian playback singer, who sang around 100 songs in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi languages. He is also a college principal by profession.

Athirappilly Falls Waterfall in Athirappilly, India

Athirappilly Falls, is situated in Athirappilly Panchayat in Chalakudy Taluk of Thrissur District in Kerala, India on the Chalakudy River, which originates from the upper reaches of the Western Ghats at the entrance to the Sholayar ranges. It is the largest waterfall in Kerala, which stands tall at 80 feet. Just a short drive from Athirappilly to the Vazhachal falls, which is close to dense green forests that are home to many endangered and endemic species of flora and fauna.

Vidhu Prathap Indian singer

Vidhu Prathap is an Indian playback singer. He has sung many songs in over 600 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jyotsna Radhakrishnan</span> Indian playback singer

Jyotsna Radhakrishnan is an Indian playback singer. She predominantly works in 12+ languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She has sung more than 1000 songs. She is based in Thrissur, Kerala. Jyotsna gained wider recognition for singing popular songs such as “Karuppinazhaku” from Swapnakoodu (2003), “Themma Themma Themmadikkatte” from Rain Rain Come Again (2004) and "Raftara" from Lucifer (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suresh Peters</span> Musical artist

Suresh Peters is a multi talented artist in the field of Indian music. He is a music producer, a professional drummer, an award-winning music director in five Indian languages and a playback singer in multiple Indian languages for feature films in India.

Mechery Louis Ouseppachan, mononymously known as Ousepachhan, is an Indian film composer and singer who mainly sets scores for Malayalam films. He is a recipient of National Award, Filmfare Award and Kerala State Film Awards for his numerous film soundtrack albums and background scores.

Stephen Devassy Musical artist

Stephen Devassy is an Indian musician hailing from Palakkad, Kerala. He started his career at a very early age, and has performed on stage around the world. Stephen is the founder of Musik Lounge, an audio technology school and studio in Chennai.

Shweta Mohan Indian singer

Shweta Mohan is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 songs for film music and albums in all the four south Indian languages namely Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada in addition to the Hindi films and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srinivas (singer)</span> Musical artist

Srinivasan Doraiswamy, known by his stage name Srinivas, is an Indian Playback Singer who has sung over 2000 songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. He has also worked independently as a music composer, working on films and private albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranjith (singer)</span> Indian singer (born 1977)

Ranjith, also known as K.G. Ranjith, is an Indian playback singer, working in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries and has sung more than 2500 songs.

"Aaromale" is a song from the 2010 Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Telugu film Ye Maaya Chesave composed by A. R. Rahman, featuring lyrics by Kaithapram and the word Aaromale frequently used in the 2012 Hindi version of the song in the film Ekk Deewana Tha with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. The song is sung by Malayalam composer Alphons Joseph. The song was well received upon release and was a chart topper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopi Sundar</span> Indian musician (born 1977)

Gopi Sundar C. S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works prominently in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He started his career composing music for television commercials, has nearly 5,000 jingles to his credit. As a keyboard programmer, he has collaborated with many music directors including the composer duo Vishal–Shekhar. He has won several accolades for his soundtrack albums and film scores, including a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award, and two Filmfare Awards South.

John P. Varkey was an Indian guitarist, songwriter and composer. He began his career as a session guitarist. He brought out three albums with Jigsaw Puzzle by the label BMG Crescendo which were innovative and well accepted by the new generation and led to the formation of band Avial. John discontinued from Avial and independently directed music for many Indian big time feature films with prominent productions and directors. His ideas and innovative sound textures made many films come to life. Varkey first came to prominence as a member of the Malayalam rock band Avial, which itself evolved out of a band called Jigsaw Puzzle. Varkey was the guitarist and songwriter for the Thrissur-based band, Slowpedalers.

References

  1. "Franco on Amrita TV - Times of India". The Times of India .
  2. "The Hindu : Melody with meaning". www.thehindu.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  3. "Home".
  4. Pradeep, K. (19 November 2015). "Music for the soul". The Hindu.
  5. "Profile of Malayalam Singer Franco%20Simon%20Neelankavil".
  6. "I enjoyed penning song in Thrissur slang - Times of India". The Times of India .