A. M. Rajah

Born on July 1st, 1929, in Ramachandrapuram, Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Aemala Manmatharaju Rajah was a famous playback vocalist and music director in South Indian Film music during the 1950s, early 1960s and 1970s. His father died, when he was 3 months old and his family moved to Renukapuram where he started his education. In 1951, he shifted to Madras (Chennai) for graduation and passed B A from the Pachaiyppa's College. He won numerous first prizes in music competition at Pachayappa's College and around this similar time, he made it in movies, when HMV spotted him to record two tunes in Telugu which were written and composed by him. At this point, Rajah was a proficient piano player and had won several prizes in the singing competition. He was knowledgeable in Western Classical and Carnatic Music.

Rajah was likewise exceedingly impacted by the South to North Indian artists like Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi is a renowned Indian playback singer >> Read More... , Mukesh and Talat Mehmood. He wedded P. G. Krishnaveni (famously known as Jikki), who ruled together with P. Leela as the main two female playback vocalists in the South amid the mid-fifties. With the help of Music director K V Mahadevan, Rajah arranged and recorded the instrumental segment, which got exceptional airplay at All India Radio. Tuning into them in one of the radio’s late night programs, S Vasan of Gemini Pictures offered him the title melody in his polyglot movie Samsaaram which was also created in Hindi. He sang in many dialect variants of the film.

At this point, he was additionally as of now recording tunes for the movies Rajambal for R. S. Manohar, who was his elder in the college, for M. G. Ramachandran with Kumaari and P. Leela, for music writers M. S. Gnanamani and K. V. Mahadevan with Jikki individually. Rajah, with moment prominence after the Samsaram tunes went ahead of the air, went ahead to sing in different dialects, including Hindi and he ruled the South in the early and mid-1950s. He was similarly fruitful in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada movies. In the 1950s and mid-60s, amid the pinnacle of his notoriety, he loaned his voice to all the major names of South Indian screen such as Gemini, ANR, Satyan, NTR, Prem Nazir Prem Nazir was born on 7th April 1926 and his actu >> Read More... , MGR, Sivaji and numerous others. In 1952, recorded tunes for a Hindi movie for Bahut Din Huye in Bombay. Rajah and Jikki were handpicked by Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor was a renowned actor, director, and pro >> Read More... and Shankar Jaikishan Shankar Jaikishan is a duo musical composer in Bol >> Read More... for Aah, the multilingual film and welcomed him to sing for Avan (Tamil) and Prema Lekhulu(Telugu) variants in Bombay, which were additionally huge hits like the firsts with Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar, the veteran playback singer, had >> Read More... in 1953.

Rajah and Jikki reigned as the most well-known match in the Tamil movies in the 50s. His role models were Hindi artists Mohammad Rafi and Talat Mehmood. He adjusted many fascinating parts of their singing styles however never imitated them. He sang melodies like 'Athi Madhura Anuraaga' in Kannada and numerous mainstream tunes even in Sinhalese dialect. Rajah was an accomplished music director and the successful composer-singer of south Indian films. His first endeavor was in 1958 for the Telugu motion picture Sobha as a composer which ended up being an extraordinary achievement. Pelli Kanuka of 1960 set up him of substance in Telugu as a music director. In1959, Kalyana Parisu was Sridhar's introduction film as a director, which delighted in tremendous film industry prominence and was likewise the debut of Rajah as a composer in Tamil movies. Sivaji Ganesan selected him as the music composer for the motion picture 'Vidi Velli' when he forayed into film production with Prabhuram pictures.

His tryst with composing incorporates super hit melodies and for which he is broadly appreciated for his awesome composing skills till this day. A.M.Rajah additionally acted in a few movies. He played a part in the Nageswara Rao starrer bilingual Devadas to an essential section of an artist in the Telugu motion picture 'Pakka Inti Ammaayi'. A.M.Rajah was the only male vocalist who was successful in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. On 7 April 1989, A. M. Rajah passed away in a train mishap at 60 years old nearly . He acclaimed and prevalence lay decidedly on his scores of undying melodies. His voice was gentle, sweetness and was magic for the audience. His touching style of sentimental singing demonstrated that extraordinary music is never boisterous. His glossy silk delicate rendering and the feelings blossomed through his supreme voice is a treat for people who love music, until this day.

Another Version Of This Bio :

A.M. Rajah was one among the popular singers in the southern film industry. Rajah was born on 1st July 1929 in Ramapuram in Andhra Pradesh. His parents are Manmadha Raju and Lakshmamma. Rajah lost his father when he was just three months old. Then his family moved to Madras. Rajah did his graduation in Chennai Pachaiyappa College. During his college days, he had won a lot of singing competitions. He is also an excellent Piano player. He is an expert in classical and western music.

Before foraying into cinema, Rajah penned and sang songs in Telugu, which is his mother tongue. Music director “K. V. Mahadevan” supported Rajah, a lot. Gemini Studios owner S. S. Vasan was impressed by Rajah’s unique voice and booked him in his next production venture. “Samsaram” was the first film for Rajah as a singer. It released in 1951. Rajah’s University senior “R. S. Manohar” worked with him in, Rajambal, before Rajah's debut. After the hit of Samsaram, Rajah got huge offers to sing in various languages.

His first Telugu song was for “Adarsham” in 1952. Rajah was the unique choice of Bollywood Superstar Raj Kapoor when the Super hit Tamil film Chandralekha was remade in Hindi. Rajah and “Jikki” had sung together hundreds of songs and almost all of them were hits. “P Susheela” was introduced to the playback singing in 1952 and her first song was with Rajah. Besides singing Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi songs, Rajah has sung a few songs in Sinhalese too.

All the Sinhalese films which Raja sang are produced in Madras. In 1953, Rajah played the hero in a Telugu film titled as Pakkinti Ammayi Pakkinti Ammayi belongs to drama genre. It started >> Read More... . He sang all the songs in the film. Although Rajah has sung for many heroes, his voice suited perfectly well for the veteran Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan Born in 1920, Gemini Ganesan, originally known as >> Read More... . “S. Janaki” got a beautiful career after a couple of hit songs with Rajah for the film Then Nilavu.

These duets in Then Nilavu took Janaki to a great height in her career. Besides being a playback singer, Rajah has also composed a few films including Veetu Maapilai and Enakkoru Magan Pirappan in Tamil and Amma Enna Stree in Malayalam. Rajah was a straightforward man and his words even offended many music directors.

It is one of the reasons for his disappearance from the music industry. Rajah married his co-singer Jikki alias “PG Krishnaveni.” Rajah and Jikki have two daughters and two sons. In 8th April 1989, when Raja tried to board a moving train, he fell onto the tracks and died.

AM Rajah Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)