Kalpana Raghavendar (born 8 May 1980) is an Indian playback singer, winner of Idea Star Singer Malayalam and participant in Bigg Boss Telugu Season 1, songwriter and actor. She started her career as a playback singer at the age of five and, by 2013, had recorded 1,500 tracks and performed in 3,000 shows in India and abroad.[1]
In 2010, she was the winner of the south Indian singing show Star Singer season 5, broadcast by the Malayalam TV channel Asianet.[2] She is a judge of Super Singer Junior.
Early life and background
Kalpana Raghavendar was born into a Tamil musical family. Her father, T. S. Raghavendra, was a renowned playback singer, actor and composer, and her mother, Sulochana, is also a singer.[1] She has a younger sister, Shekinah Shawn (born Prasanna Raghavendar) who is an opera singer.[3] Kalpana Raghavendar took her Carnatic music lessons under Madurai T. Srinivasan.[4] She has a Master of Computer Applications degree and is[when?] pursuing a Master of Philosophy.[5]
Career
Kalpana Raghavendar began her musical career at the age of five. She acted in the film Punnagai Mannan aged six.[6] Her first vocals were for a family song with P. Susheela, Mano, M. M. Srilekha and her younger sister Prasanna, composed by the music director Saluri Vasurao.[7] As an adult, she started her career as a full-fledged playback singer in 1999 with the song "Mangalagouriki" from the Telugu film Manoharam under the music director Mani Sharma. She has worked with many legendary composers and singers like M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman, K. V. Mahadevan, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and K. S. Chithra. She is more familiar to the public as a stage performer rather than a playback singer, having performed nearly 3,000 stage shows worldwide.[1][8] In 2013, she was the lead performer in a tribute concert for her guru, Madurai T. Srinivasan.[4]
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