Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer

Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer is an Indian rapper, singer, and songwriter also known by his stage name EPR (Emcee-Poet-Rapper). Santhanam was born on April 3, 1989, in Tiruchirappalli, a city in Srirangam Island, Tamil Nadu, and currently, he resides in Kolkata, West Bengal. He completed his schooling at ‘A.K. Ghosh Memorial School’ which is a private school in Kolkata, West Bengal. Santhanam pursued his graduation in Broadcast Journalism from NSHM Institute of Media and Communication, Kolkata, India. He had a passion for singing and rapping since his college days, and this is known from the fact that he formed ‘Underground Authority’, a rock band from India with Adil Rashid, Soumyadeep Bhattacharya, and Sourish Kumar as members of the band. With his hard work and determination, Santhanam became the lead vocalist of ‘Underground Authority’, and performed hundreds of shows and concerts in India along with his band.

Before joining the band, Santhanam used to perform in open mic sessions and developed a small fan base. The band also participated in “India’s Got Talent” (season 2), a Televised Indian Hindi language talent show in 2010. The show aired on ‘Colors TV’ till season 8 and has been airing on “Sony Entertainment Television” since season 9. In 2007 Santhanam became a part of “Insignia Rap Combat”, a hip-hop artists community including artists from Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As Santhanam’s carrier was burgeoning, things got worse when he was diagnosed with Cholesteatoma (a disease that can cause hearing disability) in his left ear in 2013. After talking to his doctor, he had an operation, after which he could not hear for three months. He made a great comeback after his operation and won the ‘Hornbill International Rock Contest’ held at Kohima, Nagaland, in 2013 with his band. In 2019, EPR participated in ‘ MTV Hustle Show Synopsis Coming Soon... >> Read More... ’ (season 1), India’s first rap reality show, with Raftaar, Nucleya, and Raja Kumari Raja Kumari is a famous Indian lyricist. The real >> Read More... as its judges.The show was aired on MTV India.

Santhanam bagged the ‘Star Performer Award’ in the first week and was the runner-up of the show, with M-Zee Bella as the winner. After the show, Santhanam became very popular and got a chance to sing on the title album of “MTV Supermodel Of The Year”. Santhanam’s debut solo album named ‘Protest Poetry’ was released in 2020. EPR has a huge fan following, and the audience loves his performance. His music can be streamed on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music.