K. P. Brahmanandan Biography 
K. P. Brahmanandan was a popular playback singer from Malayalam film industry in the golden era of music. He was introduced to film scene by the music composer, R. K. Shekhar, father of music legend A. R. Rahman. Through his distinct voice and talent, he rose to fame at a time when Malayalam film music industry was fully dominated by two great names – K. J. Yesudas and Jayachandran. Brahmanandan has given his distinct signature for many Malayalam songs, still loved by music fans. He got opportunity to sing only a few songs, as the industry was fully dominated by K. J. Yesudas. Yet all those songs have become musical hits and regarded as timeless Malayalam classic songs. He also composed songs for 'Malayathi Pennu' and `Kanni Nilaavu'. He died in his late 50s.
He was born on 22 February 1946 at Kadakkavoor of Thiruvananthapuram district. He was born into a Brahmin family as the fourth child of a famous boat architect of south Kerala. He was associated with all India Radio in the 1960s before he debuted playback singing. He also recorded a few songs for AIR. The evergreen song - ‘Manathe kayalin... 'of Kallichellamma marked his playback singing debut. He recorded many popular songs with music directors - V. Dakshinamurthy, M. K. Arjunan, A. T. Ummer and R. K. Shekhar. He also sang a few Tamil songs for music composers - Ilaiyaraja and Shankar Ganesh.
Some of his popular songs are ‘Manathe kayalin... 'of Kallichellamma, `Thamarapoo Naanichu... ' of Taxi Driver, `Kshetramethennariyatha Theerthayatra... ' of Poojakkedukkaatha Pookkal, Chandrikaa Charchithamam Raatriyodo' of Putrakameshti etc. He was a recipient of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy award and Critics Award for the year 1999. His son Rakesh Brahmanandan is also a singer.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 26, 2016
