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Unni Menon
Background information
Birth name	Nambalatt Naryanankutty Menon
Born	(1955-12-02) 2 December 1955 (age 69) Valanchery, Kerala, India
Genres	Film score, Devotional
Occupation(s)	Singer, music director, actor
Years active	Early 1980s–present
Website	Official website

Unni Menon (born 2 December 1955) is an Indian film playback singer. He has recorded over 4000 songs in many Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. 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's award-winning 1992 Tamil film Roja, composed by A. R. Rahman.

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 of Kerala on 2 December 1955 to V.K.S Menon and Malathy. His father was an officer in Tamil Nadu police and a native of Guruvayoor in Thrissur district. He did his schooling at Guruvayur and at Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School, Palakkad. Later, he attended the Government Victoria College, Palakkad, 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 (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 and composer Ilayaraaja. Soon he had graduated from singing tracks for prominent singers and was becoming a singer sought after by many music directors.

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.

Unni menon is the leading Singer in 2009 Malayalam Devotional Album Saranamanthram directed by Kamalan.

Television

Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards:

• 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")

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 singing

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

1. ^ S.S.Kavuta. A melodious journey . The Hindu. Retrieved 29 November 2008
2. Shaji, K. a (28 September 2014). "His music bloomed across the border". The Hindu.
3. Biography in official website, additional text.
4. Chennai Online interview, additional text.
5. ^ Official site
6. The Best Playback Singer Award from NAFA
7. Kalaimamani Awards (http://cms.tn.gov.in/sites/default/files/go/tour_t_31_2019.pdf)

External links

• Official Website
• Unni Menon at IMDb

• 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