Franco Simon (born 7 October 1974) is an Indian singer and music composer from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He has sung around 150

Malayalam films Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

songs and 1500 album songs in 5 different languages. He is the nephew of well-known Indian

film composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Ouseppachan Mechery Louis Ouseppachan (born 13 September 1955), known mononymously as Ouseppachan, is an Indian film composer and singer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of National Film Award, Filmfare Award and Kerala State Fil ...

. He is a recipient of GMMA award and multiple Yuvaprathibha Puraskar for his soundtrack albums.

Biography

Franco Simon Neelankavil was born to Simon N.P. and Alice M.L on 7 October 1974 in

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

, 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 The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. Franco's first cinematic song was En Karalil (Raakshasi) from the movie

Nammal ''Nammal'' () is a 2002 Indian Malayalam romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kamal and written by Kalavoor Ravikumar. The film stars Jishnu and Sidharth Bharathan. It was the debut film of Sidharth Bharathan, Renuka, and Bhavana. The mus ...

in 2002. In 2005, Franco formed a band called Band Seven with

Stephen Devassy Stephen Devassy (born 23 February 1981) 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 sc ...

and Sangeeth Pavithran. An

Indian pop Indian pop music, also known as I-pop or Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywood, Tollywood, Pollywood, Kollywood and the Asian ...

band, they released a Hindi album titled Yeh Zindagani. In association with Kosmic Music, Franco has composed numerous Hindu devotional songs in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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.

Partial Discography

Languages sung * Malayalam * Tamil * Telugu * Hindi * English * Sanskrit ''Popular Songs in Malayalam Films'' * Rakshasi (

) * Dhumthanakkidi Dhumma ( Mullavalliyum Thenmavum) * Pineapple Penne ( Vellinakshathram) * Kanaponnum thedi ( Chanthupottu) * Panchara chiri kondu (Merikkundoru Kunjadu) * Avani ppadam Poothallo (Maya Mohini) * Januariyil (Ayalum Njanum Thammil) * Velli Chirakukal (Chapters) * Appakkale (

Polytechnic A polytechnic is an educational institution that primarily focuses on vocational education, applied sciences, and career pathways. They are sometimes referred to as ''institutes of technology'', ''vocational institutes'', or ''universities of app ...

) * Hai Hai Hailesa (Pullipulikalum Attinkuttiyum) * Vasoottan (

Jamna Pyari ''Jamna Pyari'' is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language comedy film directed by Thomas Sebastian. It stars Kunchacko Boban and Gayathri Suresh in the lead roles. Anishlal R. S. handles the cinematography. The music was composed by Gopi Sunder. The ...

) * Bum Hare (Double barrel) * Kinavile (Pranchiyettan) * Enne ninakkinnu Priyamalle (youth festival) * Othu pidichal (3 dots) ''Popular Songs in Tamil Films'' * Ullahi Ullahi (

Lesa Lesa ''Lesa Lesa'' ( ), also referred to as ''Laysa Laysa'', is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Priyadarshan. The film stars Shaam and Trisha, while Vivek, Radharavi and Sreenivasan play supporting roles. Madhavan features in a gu ...

) * Do Do doda (

Ullam Ketkumae ''Ullam Ketkumae...'' () is a 2005 Tamil-language musical coming of age film written, cinematographed and directed by Jeeva, with dialogues by Sujatha. The film stars Shaam, Arya, Laila, Asin and Pooja as five college students. The film's sc ...

) * Neruppe (

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu ''Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Jyothika, while Kamalinee Mukherjee, Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji, and ...

) * Theye Theeye (

Maattrraan ''Maattrraan'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by K. V. Anand, who co-wrote the script with Subha, and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Suriya in dual roles as a conjoined twin brothers, along w ...

) * Title song (Thakadimi tha) * Title song (Thavam) ''Popular songs in Telugu Films'' * Ready * Current * Raghavan * Brothers ''Popular Songs In Hindi Film'' * Freeky Chakra ''Popular songs in English Film'' * Dam 999 ''Lead singer in bands'' * Band Seven * Road House * Q8 Band ''Popular Malayalam albums'' * ''Sundariye vaa'' (Malayalam album) * ''Chempakame'' (Malayalam pop album) * ''Akkara Pacha'' * ''Belief'' (Gospel album) * ''4U'' (Band Seven album) * ''Yeh Zindagani'' (Hindi album) ''Sanskrit album'' * ''Moran Amekh'' (Christian meditation album in Sanskrit, 2016)

References

External links

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp2PI4q8EzI {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Franco 1974 births Living people St. Thomas College, Thrissur alumni Film musicians from Kerala Singers from Thrissur Indian male playback singers