The music of Kerala has a complex 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.
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 30,000 songs in various Indian languages, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration with music composers like A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja, Hamsalekha, M. M. Keeravani and with the playback singers K. J. Yesudas and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam over the years. She is cited as the Golden Voice of India by world's Prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London in 2001 and Melody Queen of Indian Cinema by Radio Mirchi, The Times Group in 2016. She is honoured with the title First Ladies by the President of India in 2018 for being the first Indian woman to be honoured by British Parliament at House of Commons, United Kingdom in 2003. People of India fondly called her as Little Nightingale of Indian Cinema.
Paliyath Jayachandrakuttan is an Indian playback singer and actor from Kerala. 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, Vidyasagar and M Jayachandran. He has sung more than 10000 songs in total in different languages. He also acted in few films.
Unni Menon is an Indian film playback singer. He has recorded over 4000 songs in many Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In the early part of his career, he spent many years as a low-profile playback singer. The turning point in his career came with the song "Pudhu Vellai Mazhai" from Mani Ratnam's award-winning 1992 Tamil film Roja, composed by A. R. Rahman.
Pulapaka Suseela is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades and is referred to as Evergreen Nightingale of Indian cinema. She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film and devotional songs across South Indian languages.
Vani Jairam was an Indian playback singer in Indian cinema. She is fondly referred to as the "Meera of modern India" Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. She did playback for over one thousand Indian movies recording over 20,000 songs. In addition, she recorded thousands of devotionals and private albums and also participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
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 800 songs and albums in all the four south Indian languages namely Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, she has also recorded songs for Hindi films and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema.
Arkadu Parthasarathy Komala, commonly known as A. P. Komala, is an Indian playback singer. She has sung songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada languages.
K. Jamuna Rani is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 6,000 songs in Telugu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
Porayath Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist, and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia, Gujarati, Marati. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers v.Dakshinamoorthy, MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, K. Raghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA chithambara athletes, AT ummer, MK Arjun,Johnson, ouseppachan, ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. Leela is known for her sweet and melodious voice that she named Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006. She made her debut as a playback singer in the 1948 Tamil film Kangkanam.
Sithara Krishnakumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, lyricist, classical dancer and an occasional actor. She predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in addition to Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Sithara is a well known singer who is trained in Hindustani and Carnatic classical music traditions and is also a recognised ghazal singer. She is the recipient of several awards which includes three Kerala State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.
Kamukara Purushothaman was an Indian singer. He was a noted playback singer in Malayalam cinema during its early years. He has recorded over 170 songs in 68 movies in various South Indian languages.
This is the Tamil discography of veteran Indian male playback singer K. J. Yesudas, who sang in over 700 songs in Tamil films. He Sang the most in Tamil. Yesuda's first film was in the film Bommai (1963) as Neeyum Bommai Naanum Bommai composed by S. Balachander.
B. Vasantha is a South Indian playback singer. She has received two state level awards, the Kalaimamani and the Ugadi Award.
