Kattaserry Joseph Yesudas was born in Kochi on Jan 10 1940.He was Latin Catholic . His father was a leading play back singer around Kochi and other places in Kerala. Yesudas was the eldest brother among five. He was not a trained singer in early days after the consistent inspiration of his father he joined music training college named L.V music academy and completed Ganabhooshanam course at Thripunithura. Later he studied Swathi Thirunal college Thiruvananthapuram under the Carnatic music maestros K R Kumara swami Iyyer and Semman gudi Sreenivasa Iyyer. Due to financial constraints he later took up advanced learning musical course from Chembai Vidyanadha Bagavathar. He recorded his popular song Jaathi bedham Matha Dwesham on 14 November 1961.
This lines was written by none other than Sree Naryana guru . He got the first major break with the first malayalam film named Bharya music by G. Devarajan and lyrics by Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma. In 1967 he got another break through with the hit songs of M.S. Babu raj for the film M.S. Babu raj . But the major big thing was he got to sang various cities in USSR in 1965.
And also sang a Russian sung over Radio Kazakistan. The trio of Yesudas , Salil , Prem Nazir get in to Malayalam cinema in 1970 ‘s. In this year he was nominated the head of Sangeetha Nataka academy and was the youngest person ever to occupy the post.
After a decade of consistent singing in malayalam songs he got a chance to prove his talent at Bollywood school of music with Choti Si Baath and there born a popular song of the year Jaaneman Jaaneman. And later he got many openings to collaborate with Ravindra Jain , Bappi Lahari, Khayam and Raj Kamal.
In 2001 he sang ahimsa album in Sanskrit , Latin , English and in a mix of styles including new age Carnatic .
He frequently serves as a cultural ambassador for India through his performances abroad , promoting Indian music. In 2009 Yesudas began cross country musical campaign against Terrorism in Thiruvanthapuram with the motto of peace with music. Kavitha Karkare , wife of Hemanth Karkare handed over the torch to Yesudas to mark the launch of the Shanti Sangeetha Yathra. Yesudas has performed for 36 times in the 36 year old Soorya music festival organised by Soorya Krishna moorthy.
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