Jassie Gift

Jassie Gift is a music composer and singer who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He predominantly works for Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil movies and is currently, based in Bengaluru.

Born in a Christian family in Trivandrum, the singer had a passion for music since the beginning. He played the western piano and started playing the keyboard for local bands at a young age.  He was influenced a lot by western music.

Later, he evolved as a singer and keyboard player for a local group Moby Dick. His favorite music composers are Freddie Mercury and Ilaiyaraaja. Although he was a gifted singer and keyboard player, he came to learn more about music from music director Jayaraj.

Even before entering the film industry, he composed for an album in Malayalam called ‘Soona Soona’; which became a mega-hit upon its release. He also composed many jingles. His fusion of western music with Indian raga was instrumental in giving a new dimension to the music in the Malayalam film industry. Thus, his medley of western and eastern music became a new genre of Malayalam film dance music, and people liked it too.

Jassie also had a remarkable, unique vocal style that held him in high regards in the Malayalam film industry. He is very popular for his song “Lajjavathiye” which was from the movie '4 the People’ (2004) which became an instant hit with masses. This song "Lajjavathiye"; was sung by Jassie in two versions. One was western version.

Another duet song he had sung with Jyotsna and this song was a peppy one and called “Ninte Mizhimuna.” However, his first break was for a Malayalam movie ‘Saphlam.’ The movie '4 the people' was made later in Telugu and Tamil too, and the songs were well acclaimed in all languages.

In the year 2011, he composed music for a Kannada movie 'Sanju Weds Geetha' directed by actor-director Nagashekar. Jassie Gift's music and Kaviraj's lyrics for the movie were appreciated and are considered one of the top hits. He won the Filmfare award and Suvarna Film Award for the best music director during those years.

For the Malayalam movie 'Chinatown,’ Jessie reused the soundtrack "Gaganave Baagi" sung by Shreya Ghoshal for the Kannada film Sanju Weds Geetha. For the song "Arike Ninnalum" sung by M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra for China Town.

In the year 2013, he composed music for a Kannada movie ' Mynaa' which was directed by Nagashekar. The movie had brilliant narration, storyline, screenplay, and songs. It was a cult classic film which was liked by critics and audiences as well.

The film set new standards in the industry, and Jassie Gift composed all the songs and lyrics shared by Kaviraj, Geethapriya, and G.S. Shivarudrappa. The songs were sung by Son Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and Nithya Menen, C.Aswath and Santhosh. He won the Mirchi Music Award and ETV Sangeet Samman Award for a best music director for the movie 'Mynaa.'

In 2017, he composed music for movies 'Jani'(Kannada), Solli Vidava / Prema Baraha (Tamil & Kannada), 'Chicken Kokkachi' (Malayalam), and ' Hai' (Kannada). His other notable soundtracks are from the movies ‘Dum' (Malayalam), 'Rebel' (Kannada), 'Male' (Kannada), etc.

Jessie Gift also has a unique association with other notable music composers of the south Indian film industry, and they include Harris Jayaraj, Devisri Prasad, Yuvan Shankar Raja, and M M Keeravani, Anirudh Ravichander, hip-hop Tamizha. He has collaborated with almost all music directors from south India.