Kay Kay

Profile: Name: Krishna Kumar Kunnath Nick Name: Monu Popularly known as: Kay Kay or KK Date of Birth: August 23, 1970 Birth Place: Trichur, Kerala Nationality: Indian Schooling: Mt Saint Mary, Delhi College: Delhi University Profession: Playback singer Wife: Jyothi Kids: Two The voyage so far : For a singer who has not been trained in classical music, KK's repertoire of work is remarkable. He started singing at the age of two. He got his first ever token of appreciation in Std II for singing Asha Bhonsle's song Jab Andhera Hota Hai Adhi Rat Ke Baad. He bagged first prize. As a child he wanted to be a doctor. Destiny made him a singer instead. He switched from Hindi to English songs during his teens. He got offers from various ad agencies in Delhi for jingles. Later, he formed a rock band with his friends and played drums for two other rock bands and did vocals. KK has been greatly influenced by the legendry singer Kishore Kumar and music director R D Burman. Since his early days, he grew up listening to them. From Delhi to Mumbai in pursuit of singing career, he has surely come a long way. After graduating from Delhi University in commerce, KK had a brief stint of eight months as marketing executive in hotel industry. After few years, in 1994, he moved to Mumbai. In 1994, he gave his demo tope to Louis Banks, Ranjit Barot, Shiv Mathur and Leslie Lewis to get a break in the music arena. He got the first break in Mumbai from UTV to sing jingles and success followed soon. In a span of four years, he has sung more than 3,500 jingles in 11 Indian languages. He considers Leslie Lewis as his mentor for giving him his first jingle to sing in Mumbai. Noted film director Vishal Bhardwaj gave KK the much-needed break in Hindi cinema in MAACHIS. He got appreciation for the song Chod Aye Hum Wo Galiyan penned by Gulzar. Vishal also gave him his first solo number in Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke. The mellifluous singer has sung more than 400 songs in Hindi and over 100 songs in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages. PAL was the first album released by KK under Sony Music for which he got the prestigious SCREEN award as best singer. This year, KK released his second album HUMSAFAR after a gap of eight long years. The versatile singer started his stint in Bollywood with hit song Chhod aaye hum in Gulzar's Maachis and went on to entertain audiences with many more popular numbers. But it was his soulful rendition of Tadap Tadap ke in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam that catapulted him to fame. KK considers the song Tadap Tadap the turning point of his career. From soulful to peppy to melodious numbers, KK has sung them all. KK has worked with all the top music directors including A R Rahman, Ismail Darbar, Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, Shankar, Eshaan & loy, Himmesh Reshammiya, Bhupen Hazarika ,Sandesh Shandilya, M M Kreem, Jatin-Lalit, Vishal Shekhar, Pritam and Saleem Suleman. KK has also lent his voice for most of the top stars in the industry from Amitabh Bachchan to Hritik Roshan and Tushar Kapoor to Akshaye Khanna. Down South, he has worked with well-known maestro Ilayaraja, Harris Jayraj, Deva, Vidyasagar and Mani Sharma. He married his childhood sweetheart Jyothi in 1991. It's been 28 years since they know each other. They know each other from 6th standard. Jyothi is a painter and designer by profession. His eldest son Nakul seems to be following proud daddy's footsteps. The 13-year-old sang a song MASTI from his latest album HUMSAFAR with his daddy. KK has a 9 years old daughter Taamara.As a family man, KK prefers to spend time with family when he is not working. Once he said, his family is what gives him the strength to cope with all the pressure of Bollywood, where one has to continuously carve one's niche and hold on to it. KK appeared on television too. He was invited as jury member for a talent hunt show FAME GURUKUL, but he is clear that he would not like to return to television as the medium restricts him. He says, he enjoys live performances as he feels like a free soul. Apart from other pastime activities, KK loves to go for long drives as it gives him a sense of freedom Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.