Shanmukha Priya (born 2 November 2002) is an Indian singer, who specializes in the carnatic music, jazz, rock, pop and yodeling. She has appeared on numerous popular reality television shows, including Padutha Theeyaga S6 (2013), Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2017 (2017) and Indian Idol 12 (2020–21).
Early life and career Shanmukha Priya was born in Visakhapatnam, India into a Telugu-speaking family. Her mother Ratnamala is a music teacher and her father Srinivas Kumar is an instrumentalist of Veena, Violin, Guitar, Mandolin and Keyboard. The Hindu reported that when she was three years old her father first heard her humming to the tune played on an alarm clock. He instantly took out the veena and gave her the notes and rhythm. She performed well with her vocals and then started her training in the carnatic music.
At the age of 6, she made her debut in the reality singing in 2008 with the TV show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2008 on Zee Telugu. Her next show Padutha Theeyaga, which was judged by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam was her major breakthrough. Following the success on the television, she became a playback singer and recorded a song for the 2010 Telugu film Tejam.
Later, she appeared in five television singing shows, of which two are in Telugu, two are in Hindi and one in Tamil. Her performance in Indian Idol 12 made her widely popular. After watching her jazz-style performance to the song "Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai" from the film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na (2008) on the show, A. R. Rahman praised her and termed her as the next ‘Jazz Star of India’. In contrast, her yodeling-style of singing is often criticized and trolled by the audience. This criticism is mostly for her own style of singing various songs in Indian Idol 12.
She has been a meritorius student as well. She got a 9.7 GPA in her 12th Board Exams and is currently pursuing BSc in Mathematics.
Discography
As playback singer +List of songs recordedYearFilmSongComposerCo-singerLanguage2010Tejam"Iskon Lona Krishnudikaina"Gana–Telugu2019Ashi Hi Aashiqui"Samjhe Kya"Sachin PilgaonkarSonu NigamMarathi2021Adavi Donga"Atta Sudoddhoi"Vinod YajamanyaVinod YajamanyaTelugu2022Malli Modalaindi"Alone Alone (female version)"Anup Rubens–Grey"The Spy Who Loved Me"Nagaraju Talluri–Dharmasthali"Kodi Katthi"Vinod YajamanyaVinod YajamanyaLiger"Manchali"Tanishk Bagchi–2025Ari: My Name is Nobody"Bhaga Bhaga"Anup RubensP V N S Rohit
Filmography
Television +YearWorkChannelLanguageNotes2008Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2008Zee TeluguTelugu2013Padutha TheeyagaETVTeluguSuper Singer 4MAA TVTeluguSuper Singer JuniorVijay TVTamil2015Super Singer 9Star MaaTelugu2016The Voice India Kids S1&TVHindiEliminated in the final week2017Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2017Zee TVHindi2020–21Indian Idol 12SET IndiaHindi5th Runner-Up2020The Kapil Sharma ShowSET IndiaHindiAs a Guest2021Super DancerSET IndiaHindiAs a GuestSridevi Drama CompanyETVTelugulive performed few songs in an episode
References