Ashutosh Ganguly, better known by his stage name Ash King, is a
British-Indian singer, songwriter and composer. He made his playback singing debut in
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing ''Rang De Basanti'' (2006) and ''Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'' (2013). He is the writer and director of ...
's
Delhi-6
''Delhi-6'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan as an NRI who arrives in India with his ailing grandmother (played by Waheeda Rehman) and begins discovering his root ...
. He is a relative of prominent Indian singer
Kishore Kumar. He has also sung the song "Carbon Copy" in the movie ''
Drishyam
''Drishyam'' () is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. It stars Mohanlal and Meena, with Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Asha Sharath, Siddique, Roshan Basheer and N ...
''.
Personal life
Ash King hails from a family of musicians who has shaped his relationship with music. His grandfather Brajendra Lal Ganguly was the first Indian classical music teacher at
Nobel laureate
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's home and school
Shantiniketan
Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his s ...
, and also a prominent freedom fighter for India and close ally of
Subhas Chandra Bose and first cousin of
Kishore Kumar's father.
King spent his childhood surrounded by celebrated musical artists with whom his father worked closely with. His father used to perform with
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North In ...
in India back in the sixties. According to him, when he was very young,
George Harrison visited their house at Wembley as he was into Indian classical music. His mother hails from
Karamsad, Gujarat.
He was influenced early on by joining a Gospel choir.
Career
His first Bollywood break was with
A. R. Rahman on the film
Delhi-6
''Delhi-6'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan as an NRI who arrives in India with his ailing grandmother (played by Waheeda Rehman) and begins discovering his root ...
which he recorded at Rahman's personal studio. Rahman invited King, to his London home after friends sang his praises. He was impressed with the 25-year-old's voice, he flew him to Chennai to record in his private studio. Since then he has gone on to sing ''Te Amo'' for the film
Dum Maaro Dum, ''I Love You'' for the film
Bodyguard and featured on ''Suno Aisha'' from the film
Aisha.
Ash Featured on
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
's official single for ''
Bad Romance
"Bad Romance" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), ''The Fame Monster'' (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, ''The Fame'' (2008). Gaga wrote and produced the song with RedOne. Following an illegal ...
'' on a remix of ''
Just Dance'', this was also used in the remix album and the Asian release of the album.
Ash is also a prominent singer in the UK, having sung and co-written the song ''Love Is Blind'' which he sang with singer Ramzi and featured on the song ''Look For Me'' with
Hard Kaur
Taran Kaur Dhillon (born 29 July 1979), known by her stage name Hard Kaur, is an Indian rapper and hip hop singer; as well as playback singer and actress in Bollywood.
Early life
Hard Kaur was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India on 29th July ...
. In 2011, Ash performed at some of the biggest events in the UK including performances at
Glastonbury Festival for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and also performed on the main stage at the BBC London Mela.
film. He also took part in MTV India's 'MTV Unplugged' – Series 2, with a whole episode dedicated to his hits. Other performers included
. In April 2013 he headlined a concert at the Southbank Centre in London, alongside Sufi/Bollywood singer
* Haaye Oye – QARAN ft. Ash King