It's all about Great Legend - K.K

Krishnakumar Kunnath (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണകുമാര്‍ കുന്നത്ത് Hindi: कृष्णकुमार कुन्नथ) (born August 23, 1970), also known as KK, is an award winning Indian playback singer. He was born to C S Nair and Kanakavalli. He is a prominent singer in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil films.

Born in Thrissur, Kerala, Krishnakumar Kunnath was brought up in New Delhi. KK sang 3,500 jingles before Bollywood break. An alumnus of Delhi's Mount St. Mary school. He appeared in "Josh of India" song for the support of Indian Cricket Team during Cricket World Cup 1999. Following this, he released an album called Pal for which he notched up a Star Screen Award for the Best Solo Album, the title song of which struck a chord with listeners. Songs titled "Aap Ki Dua" and "Yaaron" from the same album were also popular.

KK is assisted by a band that comprise Jaideep Thirumalai on bass, Kalyan Baruah on guitar, Vibhas Rahul on drums and Rinku Rajput on keyboards.

 

Personal life

He married his childhood sweetheart Jyothi in 1991. 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's son, Nakul, sang a song "Masti" from his latest album Humsafar with his father. KK also has a daughter named Taamara.

Career

Early life and playback singing

As a child he wanted to be a doctor. KK gave his first stage performance when he was in second standard. KK switched from Hindi to English songs during his teens. His versatile voice was soon tapped by various as agencies in Delhi for jingles. He even 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 legendary singer Kishore Kumar and music director R D Burman. Since his early days, he grew up listening to them. After graduating from Delhi University in commerce, KK had a brief stint of eight months as marketing executive in the hotel industry. After few years, in 1994, he moved to Mumbai.

In 1994, he gave his demo tape to Louis Banks, Ranjit Barot, Shiv Mathur and Leslie Lewis to get a break in the music arena. It was in 1994, when his son Nakul was born, that things changed suddenly. The same day he was called by UTV and he sung a jingle for Santogen Suiting ad. In a span of four years, he has sung more than 3,500 jingles in 11 Indian languages. He got the first break in Mumbai from UTV to sing jingles and success followed soon. He considers Leslie Lewis as his mentor for giving him his first jingle to sing in Mumbai. Till now, KK has sung more than 250 songs in Hindi and more than 50 songs in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages in a short span. Down South, he has worked with well-known maestro Ilayaraja, Harris Jayaraj, Deva, Vidyasagar and Mani Sharma.

Noted film director Vishal Bhardwaj gave KK the much-needed break. He started his stint in Bollywood with hit song "Chhod Aaye Hum" in Maachis and went on to entertain audiences with many more popular numbers. Vishal Bhardwaj also gave him his first solo number in the as-yet-unreleased film Hum Paanchi Ek Daal Ke. But it was his soulful rendition of "Tadap Tadap Ke" in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam that catapulted him to fame.

In Bollywood he has notched up winners with songs such as "Tu Aashiqui Hai" from Jhankaar Beats, "Chand Ki Roshni Se" from Home Delivery, "Awarapan Banjarapan" from Jism, "sach keh raha hai deewana" from RHTDM. "It's The Time To Disco" from Kal Ho Naa Ho and the smash hit "Dus Bahaane" (with Shaan) from the film Dus,"Aashayein" from Iqbal. His recent hit songs include "Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai" from the movie Gangster, "Maine Dil Se Kaha" from Rog,"O Meri Jaan" from Life in a Metro, "Soniye Soniye" from Aksar, "Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar" from MP3 - Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar, "Alvida" from Life in a... Metro,"Labon Ko" from "bhool bhulaya","zara si" and "Haan Tu Hai" from Jannat (film),"Bin Tum" from "Dus Kahaniyan","Ajab Si" from Om Shanti Om and "Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai" from Woh Lamhe. His smash hit "Khuda Jaane" is from the film Bachna Ae Haseeno, released in August 2008, for which he won a Star Screen Award for Best Male Playback Singer.His 2009 hits include songs like "Hai Junoon" and from New york, "O Jaana", "Kaisa Ye Raaz Hai" from Raaz - The Mystery Continues,"Main Tera Dhadkan Teri" from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani,"Haan Main Jitni Martaba" from "All The Best"."Aaya Re" and "Nazreim Karam" are also hits from the movie Jashnn.At the end of the year, he came up with the songs like "Dil Ibadaat" and "O Meri Jaan" from movie Tum Mile.

K.K's Performance:-
KK has performed live concerts for Corporate giants like Hero Honda, Toyota, Glaxo, Seagram’s, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsoft, Microsoft, Nokia, Fidelity, Citibank, INFLS, LG, Sony Eriksson, Air Sahara, Ultra Tech Cement, JP Cement, Maruti Udyog and many more. He has also performed for schools, colleges and other educational institutes like IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Madras, MDI-Gurgaon, IIMS-Lucknow, HT Youth Nexus and BITS Pilani.
A list of some concerts by KK:

• "Le Feistus 2009" of Jaypee University of Information Techonology, Waknaghat.
• "RIPPLE'09", the annual cultural festival of University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi.
• "Incident 2008", the annual cultural festival of NITK Surathkal.
• "Spring Fest", the annual cultural festival of IIT, Kharagpur in January 2009.
• "YCCE Fest 9.0" at Nagpur at Yeshwant stadium on 1 February 2009.
• IIM Bangalore's "Unmaad 2009" on 31^st of January 2009.
• TVM, for the cultural & technical fest organised by P.A Aziz College of Engg. & Technology.
• "PAACET FEST" 09 at Nishagandhi auditorium on 8 March 2009.
• MGM College.
• JIIT college in 2008.
• Fidelity Investments Family Day 2007, Gurgaon.
• "RECSTACY 2007", Annual Cult Fest Of NIT Durgapur.
• IIT Delhi's "Rendezvous 2006" in September 2006.
• BITS Pilani's "Oasis 2008" in October 2008.
• SCMHRD's "NEEV" Management Fest in December 2008.
• Mount St. Mary's, Delhi Cantt on April 25, 2009.
• Antaragni, the Cultural Fest of IIT Kanpur on October 25, 2009.
• BITS Pilani Goa Campus's "Waves Winter 2009" on November 7, 2009.
• Dhaka Residential Model College's "Nokia Music Carnival" on December 26, 2009