Hemanth Biography

Hemanth was born into a family of musicians at Bangalore. His mother Smt. Rathna Sastry is a renowned Classical Singer & father Sri Subramanya Sastry is a Retired Economics Professor and an ardent music lover. Hemanth nurtured his love towards music from the tender age of four. Since his childhood days, he used to accompany his mother while she performed Carnatic and Light classical shows and he considers her as his first Guru.

Hemanth has secured a distinction in Civil Engineering from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore (1995-99 batch). While at college, he created his own band which participated in numerous cultural events and needless to say won several awards. Pursuing a thriving career in the Cinema Industry as a Professional Playback Singer, he also simultaneously wanted to develop his skill in Construction Engineering.

Hemanth is a disciple of Vidwan Sri R.K. Srikantan , Vidwan Sri R.S. Ramakanth, Dr. Nagavalli Nagaraj and Sri H K Narayan. His Gurus have moulded him with essential technicalities in Carnatic classical music for about a decade.

Hemanth started his career as a music assistant to Sri. Hamsalekha, the legendary music director who also introduced him to the Kannada Film Industry. His foray into the film world was made in 2000 for the blockbuster movie “Preethse”. The total number of Kannada songs rendered by him till date exceeds a few thousands.

He has hosted and performed for innumerable TV musical shows in leading Kannada channels. “Kuhu Kuhu for Udaya TV”, “Gunagaana & Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” for Zee Kannada to name a few. One of the high points in his singing career was performing in Muskat for the show “Gana Lahiri” organized by Kannada Sangha, Muskat - 2008 and also in Dubai - 2012. He modestly says that he aims to spread music globally.

Hemanth realized his dream of many years when he won the Filmfare Award for being the best playback singer for the year 2007. He holds the unique distinction for being the first playback singer from Karnataka to be conferred with this Award.

He was also conferred with the State Award 2006-07 in the Best Playback Singer category.