Shaan is an Indian playback singer and television host. He hosted the shows Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, Star Voice of India and "Star Voice of India 2". In the Indian television program Music Ka Maha Muqabla his team, Shaan's Strikers, finished as the runners up, second only to music maestro Shankar Mahadevan’s team. He is one of the leading singers in the Indian Cinema.
Background
Shaan was born into a Bengali Brahmin family on 30 September 1972 in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. He is the son of the late music director Manas Mukherjee and brother of singer Sagarika. His father died when Shaan was 13, after which his mother found work as a singer and took care of the whole family. He is married to Radhika and has two sons, Soham and Shubh. He is the grandson of lyricist Jahar Mukherjee.
Career
As a child, Shaan began his career by singing ad jingles. After giving it up for a brief period, he soon returned to it, and also began to sing remixes and cover versions. In the 1989 movie Parinda, when he was only 15 years of age, Shaan sang a singular line in the song, Kitni Hai Pyari Pyari Dosti Hamari’.
His career began in 1995 with his first release, the remix album called Q-funk. In 2000 he won the MTV Asia Music Award for ‘best solo alubum’ for his album Tanha Dil. Three years later Shaan launched his album Aksar which was again hugely successful. The album contained songs featuring international stars such as Blue, Mel C and Samira Said. For both the albums Tanha Dil and Aksar, Shaan displayed his great talents by singing, composing and writing the lyrics of his songs. He plans to release an album remaking his father’s compositions with his sister.
Apart from his albums, Shaan has sung playback vocals for various Bollywood films, including Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai , Lakshya, Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Hum Tum, Dhoom, Dus, Salaam Namaste, Don – The Chase Begins Again, Fanaa and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. He hosted the television show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV, which won the Music Programme of the Year award at the Indian Telly Awards in 2003. In 2007, he left the host job and then was replaced by 20 year-old Aditya Narayan. At the same awards function, Shaan won Best TV Music Director, for creating the music of the Zee TV show, Lipstick, for friend, Goldie Behl.
He also appeared as the guest in the first episode of the new show Antakshari: The Great Challenge which aired on 9 February 2007 on Star One.
Shaan is now the host of another very popular music show called ‘Star Voice of India (SVOI) which airs on Star Plus. He was offered to host Star Voice Of India Lil Champs but opted out to spend time with his family. However, he said he would return to host the next season of SVOI.
Popular songs by Shaan include his first hit, “Musu Musu”, as well as “Tanha Dil” and “Bhool Ja” from his albums and the very popular song “Chand Sifarish” from the movie Fanaa. Recently he released a song with MLTR namely “Take me to your heart”, which is on his latest album entitled Tishnagi.
Along with singing, Shaan has also acted in the movie, Daman, also starring Raveena Tandon. He has made appearances in his songs in the movies, Zameen and Hungama.