Harris Jayaraj is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, musician, and singer from Chennai. He has composed music for many successful films in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi cinema. His accolades include four Filmfare Awards South, three SIIMA Awards, four Mirchi Music Awards South, one Vijay Award, two Edison Awards, and two Vikatan Awards.
Early Life and Career
Harris was born in Chennai to Professor Dhanraj and Vimala. He completed his schooling at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai. Jayaraj's career began when he worked as a programmer under A. R. Rahman's supervision for the film Kadhal Desam (1996). His first independent project was with the film Minnale (2001).The song “Vaseegara” from the film Minnale gained him immense popularity.
Big Breakthrough
Jayaraj’s breakthrough came with the film Kaakha Kaakha (2003), where he collaborated with director Gautham Menon for the first time. The album was successful and critically acclaimed among fans and critics alike. Harris went on to collaborate with Gautham Menon in eight other films following Kaakha Kaakha.
Other works
He has also composed music for Hindi films, including Dhoom (2004), Ghajini (2008) and Singham (2011). In 2016, he worked with director Shankar on the science fiction film I (2015). His most recent work includes music for the film Monster (2021) starring Sibi Sebastian.
Awards
In 2006, Harris won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for the Tamil Film Kaakha Kaakha. He won his second Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for the Tamil Film Anniyan (2005). He also won two Mirchi Music Awards South in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
