Nambalatt Narayanankutty Menon (born 2 December 1955), known better by his stage name Unni Menon is an Indian film playback singer. He has recorded over 4000 songs in many Indian languages including

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Telugu and

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 ...

.S.S.Kavuta
A melodious journey

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

. Retrieved 29 November 2008 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 Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

's award-winning 1992 Tamil film '' Roja'', composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

. Menon has frequently associated with A. R. Rahman, lending his voice to nearly 27 popular songs from films like '' Karuththamma'' (1994) and '' Minsaara Kanavu'' (1997).

Early life

Menon was born in Temple Town Guruvayur in the

Thrissur district Thrissur (), anglicised as Trichur, is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is situated in the central region of the state. Spanning an area of about , th ...

of Kerala on 2 December 1955 to V.K.S Menon and Malathy. His father was an officer in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

police and a native of

Guruvayoor Guruvayur ) is a municipal temple town in Thrissur district, of Kerala State in India. It is a suburban town of Thrissur city, located from Thrissur towards the north-west. It houses the Guruvayur Shri Krishna Temple. It is located at ...

. He did his schooling at Guruvayur and at Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School, Palakkad. Later, he attended the

Government Victoria College, Palakkad The Government Victoria College in Palakkad is an institution of higher learning in the Malabar region of Kerala. It is affiliated to the Calicut University and provides undergraduate and postgraduate education in science, arts and commerce su ...

, from where he graduated with a degree in Physics. He exhibited great talent and enthusiasm for music in childhood, winning many prizes in competitions throughout his school and college days.

Career

Unni Menon is a Malayalam film playback singer. Kunjunni, a violinist for music director Ilaiyaraaja introduced him to B. A. Chidambaranath, a music director, and Unni's musical career was launched in 1981–82. His maiden song "Amudhum Thenum" was never released, but with "Pon maane kobam eno" he became a noted singer in 1984. He was a track singer and after listening to his tracks for the film, ''Kadathu'', KJ Yesudas asked to the music director, Shyam, to make it straight. And after the huge success of the ''Kadathu'' songs ("Olangal Thaalam Thullumbol", "Punnaare Poonthinkale", etc.), Unni became a regular singer for the hit music director, Shyam. Shyam has given him a good number of popular songs like "Maanathe Hoori Pole" (''Ee Naadu''), "Valakilukkam Oru Valakilukkam" (''Munnettam''), "Kaayampoo Korthu Tharum" (''Aarorumariyaathe'') and "Thozhuthu Madangum Sandhyayumetho" (''Aksharangal''). After Shyam's decline from the film music field, Unni's career in Malayalam film musicdom also went into shades. During that period, he has given some hit private albums such as ''Raagageethi'' and ''Raaga Lahari'', with his contemporary playback singer, Ashalatha. ''Paanchajanyam,'' a Hindu devotional audio album on Lord Guruvayurappan, brought him a lot of fame in the Malayalam audio world. Unni Menon moved to

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

(then Madras) where he had a job in the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi. Many of the prominent recording studios of South India were located in Chennai. His interest in music led him to visit these studios regularly and formed acquaintances with many prominent artists like the singer

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas ( /jeːʃud̪aːs/; born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian m ...

and composer Ilayaraaja. Soon he had graduated from singing tracks for prominent singers and was becoming a singer sought after by many music directors.Chennai Online interview
additional text. In the 1980s he had few lone hits, "Pon maane kobam eno" in Tamil film 'Oru Kaidhiyin Diary', with a nickname Vijay, singing for Ilayaraja. His career got a major boost in 1992 when A. R. Rahman offered him the song "Puthu Vellai Mazhai". In 2003, Unni Menon added a new dimension to his career when he acted and composed music for the Malayalam film '' Sthithi'' besides singing the songs in the film.Official site Unni menon is the leading Singer in 2009 Malayalam Devotional Album '' Saranamanthram'' directed by Kamalan.

Television

Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Governmen ...

: * 2002 – Best Male Playback Singer – ''Varushamellam Vasantham'' (Song: "Enge Antha Vennila") and ''Unnai Ninaithu'' (Songs: "Ennai Thalatum" and "Yaarindha Devathai") * 1996 – Best Male Playback Singer – ''Minsara Kanavu'' (Song: "Ooh lalala")Official site Film Guidance Society of Kerala Film Awards: * 2011 – Best Male Playback Singer – '' Beautiful'' (Song: "Mazhaneer Thullikal") North American Film Awards * 2017 - Best Male Playback Singer – '' Jacobinte Swargarajyam'' Kalaimamani Honour by Tamil Nadu Government *2018 - Contribution to Playback singingKalaimamani Awards (http://cms.tn.gov.in/sites/default/files/go/tour_t_31_2019.pdf)

Discography

Tamil Songs

''List of Tamil songs recorded by Unni Menon''

Telugu discography

Malayalam album songs

* * * '' Chingakili'' - 1992 * Aavani Kanavukal - 1997 * Pranayamarmaram - 2009 * '' Ponnavanni Pattukal'' - 2017 * ''Eenathil'' - 2018 * '' Ennum Ninnormmayil (Ronima Creations)'' - 2022

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Unni 1955 births Living people Indian male playback singers Tamil playback singers Malayalam playback singers People from Thrissur district Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Government Victoria College, Palakkad alumni Singers from Kerala Film musicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian male singers