Born On:8 January 1975

Born In:Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Nationality: Indian

Career:Film score composer, record producer, song writer

He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has won 6 Filmfare Awards South and since 2001, has received 17 Filmfare Awards South nominations. He has also won 6 Mirchi Music Awards, 5 Vijay Awards, 3 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 3 International Tamil Film Awards and Big FM Awards. He has been honoured with Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu and Life Time Achievement Award from Konijeti Rosaiah, the Governor of Tamil Nadu.

Childhood

Harris Jayaraj was brought up in Chennai, he was born into a middle class Tamil Christian family. He studied at Krishnaswamy Matric School, K. K. Nagar. His father, S. M. Jayakumar, was a noted film guitarist and an assistant to Malayalam music director Shyam and later became a noted musician and film composer. At age six, Harris began his formal training in carnatic music. His father wanted him to become a guitarist and made him learn classical guitar from Mr.A.Abdul Sattar. Harris scored the highest mark in Asia on his 4th grade exam of Trinity College of Music, London.

Early Life

He started his music career as a guitarist in 1987 at age twelve. He started playing keyboard and developed interest over synthesizers. He then started programming with his Roland MC-500 and went on to work as a programmer under more than twenty five music directors in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam, working in more than 600 projects till the year 2000. He worked under noted composers including Raj-Koti, A. R. Rahman, Sadhu Kokila, Mani Sharma, Karthik Raja, Vidyasagar. While working as an additional programmer under Rahman, he composed music for various television commercials including a Coca-Cola commercial featuring actor Vijay. In his early years, he admired music composers M. S. Viswanathan, A. R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer.

As A Music Director

Harris debuted as a film composer with Gautham Menon’s Minnale. The album was well received, particularly the song Vaseegara was exceptionally popular.He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil for his work in Minnale, breaking the 9 years continuous record of A. R. Rahman. The following soundtrack albums 12B and Majunu met with high acclaim and praise. He also composed for the Hindi remake of Minnale titled Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, also directed by Gautham Menon. Most of the tunes from the Tamil version were retained in the Hindi version too, and only two fresh tunes were composed. He then worked in Lesa Lesa directed by Priyadarshan. The title track of Lesa Lesa was the first song in India to be released as a single prior to a film soundtrack album release (The first ever single to be released prior to an album was Anaida’s “hotline”). Harris made his debut in Telugu cinema with Vasu. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil, Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director and ITFA Best Music Director Award for Kaakha Kaakha, starring Suriya and Jyothika. This film directed by Gautham Menon was a huge commercial success and the songs met with great critical acclaim. In its Telugu remake Gharshana two new songs apart from the Tamil version were added to suit the taste of Telugu audience. The song Uyirin Uyire reused as Cheliya Cheliya in Telugu and Khwabon Khwabon in Hindi had effective use of gibberish words which later became a signature element in Harris songs.

Harris once again paired up with director Jeeva on Ullam Ketkumae after 12B. The music was appreciated for its excellency and synergy with the atmosphere in and out of the movie. Director S. Shankar, noted leading director of Tamil cinema, paired up with Harris in his magnum opus Anniyan. It was the first time Shankar did not team up with A. R. Rahman. Shankar later mentioned that working with Harris was an experience. The soundtrack album received several awards including Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director and Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil. The next film he scored was Ghajini directed by AR Murugadoss, for which he received Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director. Critics noted that the album had “scintillating, party-hopping numbers”, which resulted in a huge commercial success in audio sales; the track “Sutum Vizhi” crossed 20 million downloads and turned out to be phenomenally successful. Harris crafted a necessary classiness into Gautham Menon’s blockbuster crime thriller Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu starring Kamal Haasan. Gautham revealed that he shares the entire script with Harris and provides input’s from his side.

Harris and I, when we work together, we put in a lot of effort. I give him the entire script. I give him inputs. When we sat down for Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, I told him to do away with the traditional pallavi-charanam format in the Manjal veyyil song.

Harris once again ventured into Tollywood with a successful album Sainikudu. The music album of the film was released simultaneously in 10 chosen venues from five different countries. Gautham Menon who considers the music and background score of Harris as a major asset of his films, once again teamed up with Harris on a romantic-thriller Pachaikili Muthucharam. The soundtracks of Pachaikili Muthucharam are appraised as melancholic, lilting, mysterious, and alternatively catchy. Harris’ collaboration with Jeeva continued with Unnale Unnale. The music album oozing with energy all through proved to be a cut above the rest. His next Telugu venture Munna had a good commercial reception, and the song Manasa fetched a Filmfare Best Singer Female award to Sadhana Sargam. With the following album Bheema, Harris continued his mettle with all the six songs. The track Siru Parvaiyalae used Pashto words in interludes. The album was praised for bringing up visual recapitulation from audio. Harris used a live orchestra of 84 members for the action cop film Sathyam. In 2009, Harris Jayaraj was signed in for Vikram Kumar’s 24, which was to star Vikram. He was also signed in for the Malayalam film Yoddha 2, starring Mohanlal. But both films were subsequently shelved.

In Anegan, Harris’s “Danga Maari Oodhari”, featuring lyrics in North Madras slang become an instant chart-buster.After a hiatus of 6 years, Harris collaborated with Gautham Vasudev Menon for the action cop film Yennai Arindhaal. The soundtrack received positive reviews from critics and according to Behindwoods, it was the most played album of 2015 in Chennai radio stations.

Awards

2009: Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu
2015: Life Time Achievement Award from Konijeti Rosaiah, the Governor of Tamil Nadu
2015: Maestro Award from the Ritz Style Awards 2015
2019: Behindwoods Gold MIC Award for Icon of Inspiration – Setting New Precedents in Film Music
2019: Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute Honorary Doctorate of Letters
2001: Filmfare Awards South Won – Best Music Director – Minnale,
2003: Filmfare Awards South Won – Best Music Director – Kaakha Kaakha
2005: Filmfare Awards SouthWon – Best Music Director – Anniyan
2005: Filmfare Awards SouthWon – Filmfare Special Award – South – Ghajini
2008: Filmfare Awards SouthWon – Best Music Director – Vaaranam Aayiram
2009: Filmfare Awards SouthWon – Best Music Director – Ayan
2003:Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Won – Best Music Director – Kaakha Kaakha
2005: Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Won – Best Music Director – Anniyan & Ghajini
2011: Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Won – Best Music Director – Ko
2008: Vijay Awards Won – Best Music Director – “Vaaranam Aayiram”
2009: Vijay Awards Won – Best Music Director – “Aadhavan”
2008: Vijay Awards Won – Favorite Song of the Year – “Ava Enna” from “Vaaranam Aayiram”
2011: Vijay Awards Won – Favorite Song of the Year – “Enamo Aedho” from “Ko”
2012: Vijay Awards Won – Favorite Song of the Year – “Google Google” from Thuppakki
2011: Vijay Music Awards Won – Best Music Director – Engeyum Kaadhal
2011: Vijay Music Awards Won – Popular Song of the Year – “Enamo Aedho” from Ko
2011: Vijay Music Awards Won – Best Western Song – “Nangaai” from Engeyum Kaadhal
2003: International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA) Won – Best Music Director – Kaakha Kaakha
2005: International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA) Won – Best Music Director – Ghajini
2008: International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA) Won – Best Music Director – Vaaranam Aayiram
2009: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Best Album of the Year – Ayan
2009: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Mirchi Listeners’ Choice for Best Album – Ayan
2010: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Best Album of the Year – Orange
2010: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Mirchi Listeners’ Choice for Best Album – Orange
2010: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Mirchi Listeners’ Choice for Best Song – “Nenu Nuvvantu” from Orange
2011: Mirchi Music Awards South Won – Best Song of the Year – “Enamo Aedho” from Ko
2009:Edison Awards Won – Best Music Director – Ayan
2011: Edison Awards Won – Best Music Director – Ko
2015: Edison Awards Won – Favourite Song of the Year – “Danga Maari” from Anegan
2012: South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) Won – Best Music Director – Thuppakki
2007 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Youthful Album of the Year- Unnale Unnale
2007 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Most Listened Song of the Year- “June Ponal” from Unnale Unnale
2008 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Romantic Song of the Year- “Anbe En Anbe” from Dhaam Dhoom
2008 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Album of the Year – Vaaranam Aayiram
2008 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Music Director – Vaaranam Aayiram
2009 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Romantic Song of the Year – “Vizhi Moodi Yosithal” from Ayan
2009 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Album of the Year – Aadhavan
2009 – Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards Best Music Director of the Year – Aadhavan
2010 – Big FM Awards Best Music Director – Orange
2011 – Big Tamil Melody Awards Best Music Director – Engeyum Kaadhal
2011 – Big Tamil Melody Awards Best Album of the Year – Engeyum Kaadhal
2012 – Big Tamil Melody Awards Best Music Director – Nanban
2011 – Chennai Times Film Awards Best Music Director – Ko
2008 –South Scope Awards Most Stylish Music Director – Dhaam Dhoom
2009 – South Scope Awards Best Music Director – Ayan