Unni Menon


Unni Menon is an Indian film playback singer. He has sung over 3000 songs in South Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In the early part of his career, he spent many years as a low-profile playback singer. The turning point in his career came when he sang the song "Pudhu Vellai Mazhai" from Mani Ratnam's award-winning 1992 Tamil film Roja, composed by A. R. Rahman. He has frequently associated with A. R. Rahman, lending his voice to nearly 25 popular songs from films like Karuththamma and Minsaara Kanavu.

Early life

Unni Menon was born in Guruvayoor, the temple town in the Thrissur district of Kerala. His father was V. K. S. Menon, an officer in Tamil Nadu police and a native of Valanchery in Malappuram district and Malathy. He did his schooling at Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School, Palakkad. Later, he attended the Government Victoria College, Palakkad, from where he graduated with a degree in Physics. Unni Menon exhibited great talent and enthusiasm for music in childhood, winning many prizes in competitions throughout his schooling and college life.

Career

Unni Menon is basically a Malayalam film playback singer. Kunjunni, a violinist for music director Ilaiyaraaja introduced him to B. A. Chidambaranath, a music director, and Unni's musical career was launched in 1981–82. His maiden song "Amudhum Thenum" was never released, but with "Pon maane kobam eno" he became a noted singer in 1984. He was a track singer and after listening to his tracks for the film, Kadathu, KJ Yesudas asked to the music director, Shyam, to make it straight. And after the huge success of the Kadathu songs, Unni became a regular singer for the hit music director, Shyam. Shyam has given him a good number of popular songs like "Maanathe Hoori Pole", "Valakilukkam Oru Valakilukkam", "Kaayampoo Korthu Tharum" and "Thozhuthu Madangum Sandhyayumetho". After Shyam's decline from the film music field, Unni's career in Malayalam film musicdom also went into shades. During that period, he has given some hit private albums such as Raagageethi and Raaga Lahari, with his contemporary playback singer, Ashalatha.Paanchajanyam an Hindu devotional audio album on Lord Guruvayurappan brought him a lot of fame in the Malayalam audio world.
Unni Menon moved to Chennai where he had a job in the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi. Many of the prominent recording studios of South India were located in Chennai. His interest in music led him to visit these studios regularly and formed acquaintances with many prominent artists like the singer K. J. Yesudas and composer Ilayaraaja. Soon he had graduated from singing tracks for prominent singers and was becoming a singer sought after by many music directors.
In 1980s he had few lone hits, "Pon maane kobam eno" in Tamil film 'Oru kaidhiyin dairy', with a nickname Vijay, singing for Ilayaraja. His career got a major boost in 1992 when A. R. Rahman offered him the song "Puthu Vellai Mazhai". That song went on to become a huge hit, as were all the other songs from the film. Since then he has sung many songs which have become big hits.
In 2003, Unni Menon added a new dimension to his career when he acted and composed music for the Malayalam film Sthithi besides singing the songs in the film.
Unni menon is the leading Singer in 2009 Malayalam Devotional Album ''Saranamanthram directed by Kamalan

Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards:
Film Guidance Society of Kerala Film Awards:
'North American Film Awards

Partial filmography

YearSongMovieMusic DirectorLyrics
1985" Pon Maane Kobam aeno"Oru kaidhiyin DairyIlayarajaVairamuthu
2002"Oru Chembaneer Pooviruthu"SthithiUnni Menon, M. Jayachandran, Sunny Viswanath
2004"Ennuyir Thozhi"Kangalal Kaidhu SeiA. R. RahmanP. Vijay
2005"Unakku Endru Oruthi"Oru Kalluriyin KathaiYuvan Shankar RajaNa. Muthukumar
2010"Kalli Kattil"Thenmerku ParuvakaatruN. R. RaghunanthanVairamuthu
2011"Mazhaneer Thullikal"BeautifulRatheesh VeghaAnoop Menon
2012"Maranamethunna"SpiritShahabaz AmanRafeeq Ahammed
2016"Thiruvaavaniraavu"Jacobinte SwargarajyamShaan RahmanManu Manjith
2019"Thotte"Marconi MathaiM JayachandranB K Harinarayanan

Malayalam album songs