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Raju Singh
Background information
Birth name	Rajinder Singh Panesar
Born	(1969-04-03) 3 April 1969 (age 55) Mumbai, India
Genres	Film score, TV, Jingles, Channel Anthems
Occupation(s)	Composer, music director, music producer, singer, arranger
Instrument(s)	Piano, Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Electric Guitar, Tabla
Years active	1983–present
Website	rajusingh.com

Raju Singh (Full name: Rajinder Singh Panesar) is an Indian film score composer, session musician, singer and a guitarist. His first collaboration was with Malkit Singh of Hai Jamalo fame. Together with Adesh Srivastav they released an album called I Love Golden Star which was quite a rage in the underground circles in Britain. Some of his early compositions include of shows are Dekh Bhai Dekh, Filmi Chakkar, Aahat, Boogie Woogie and CID.

Early life

Rajinder Singh Panesar, aka Raju Singh, was born on 3 April 1969 in Mumbai, India. Son of Gursharan Kaur Panesar and Charanjit Singh Panesar; his father hails from Amritsar and Mother from Ferozepur, Punjab.

Singh's family lived in Juhu, Mumbai. He attended St. Xavier's High school, Vile Parle and completed college from Mithibai college in 1986. Raju Singh has been an integral part of the music industry from a very young age of 16 years when he would play the Bass guitar for the veteran music director R.D. Burman. Learning from the masters from such a young age has imbibed in Raju a deep understanding of the role of music in films. Singh's school friends remember him as a guitar and drummer boy. Singh did his first album an Instrumental Tracks Power Of Music with his friend Aadesh Shrivastav in the year 1987 under the label of Venus.^[1]

He attended Sangeet Mahabharati founded by Pt. Nikhil Gosh and Complete Theory of Trinity College of London. The first instrument he learned to play was the guitar, followed by tabla and piano. His guitar teachers were Mr. Bonny D’ Costa, Mr. Dilip Naik, Mr. Mendes and Mr. Das, Late Mr. Bismak . He learned Tabla from Late Mr. Eknath Pimpley and Late Mr. Prakash Gore. His Piano teacher was Mr. Mendes. Singh can play the Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Tabla and Piano.

Looking back to his childhood Singh says, "I used to accompany my dad to the studio and often watch him play with the likes of S D Burman, R D Burman & Laxmikant–Pyarelal, this created a strong desire to be one amongst them. After returning home I used to play in front of the mirror and dad used to secretly watch me and when I was done he used to appreciate my work. His words helped me build myself in music."

As a child, Singh used to accompany his teacher Mendes to an NGO near Worli every Sunday and they used to spend time playing different types of instruments with many other musicians. Singh says "This practice taught me an important lesson, the lesson of humility which proved to be useful in every walk of life.

Career

As a musician, Singh started playing for Uttam Singh who introduced him as a guitarist for the song Mere Pyar Ki Umar for the movie Waaris, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Manmohan. Initially he started off as a guitarist with R D Burman and had the honour to be a part of his last movie 1942: A Love Story then slowly progressed on to become an arranger, music director, composer and scorer for Bollywood movies later composing and directing for television and advertising. One of the famous hits is Soniyo from Raaz: The Mystery Continues, Gungunati Hain from Satta.

Discography

As a composer

Soundtracks

Albums