Arjun (singer)

Arjun Coomaraswamy
Arjun Coomaraswany
Background information
Birth name	Arjun Coomaraswamy
Born	23 September 1990 (age 27) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Genres	R&B, Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer, Instrumentalist, Actor
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Drum, Flute
Years active	2011 – present
Labels	T-Series, Universal Music Group, Prince Music Series, Sony Music India
Associated acts	Guru Randhawa, Anirudh Ravichander, Charles Bosco, Sourav Ray (Master-B), S.Dubey (Justin Blaze), Andrea Jeremiah, Closer To Home .
Website	www.arjunofficial.com

Arjun Coomaraswamy (also spelled Arjun Kumaraswamy, Arjuna Kumaraswami (Tamil: அர்ஜுன் குமாரசாமி)), known by his stage name Arjun, is a British Sri Lankan singer-songwriter, record producer and actor.

He is currently the most viewed UK Asian artist on YouTube, with over 250 million views.^[1]

Career

Arjun rose to attention by following an R&B cover version of "Why This Kolaveri Di"^[2][3] which was uploaded on YouTube in December 2011 has received 12.8 million views.

Arjun became known for his fusion of contemporary Western and Eastern sounds, combining R&B with elements of South Asian music. This formula has made him a big hit with Asian youth across the globe ^[4]

Arjun was nominated for ‘Best Newcomer‘ at the ‘Brit Asia Music Awards 2011’.^[5] In December 2011, Arjun’s R&B Remix ("How could you do this to me?") of the Tamil cult hit ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’ attracted over 3 million YouTube views in one month ^[6] and now stands at nearly 13 million views.^[7] The song became a viral sensation and was later featured on TV channels around the world, including CNN, NDTV and Star News.^[6] A few months later, two of Arjun’s singles made it into the first ever ‘Asian Beats Chart’ on mainstream UK television, selected by a panel of Asian media figures and TV officials. His song ‘Stargazer’ was voted the number 2 song by an Asian artist in 2011 (No.1 was A.R Rahman’s group ‘Super Heavy’, which included Mick Jagger & Joss Stone.) ^[8]

In January 2012, Arjun was chosen as one of MTV’s Top 20 Unsigned Acts for 2012, out of thousands of contestants.^[9] Arjun won Best Urban Act at the 2012 UK Asian Music Awards.^[10] Arjun is playing the role of Luke Lewis in new online drama "Steffi".^[11] He was later chosen by Anirudh Ravichander to perform a song in the movie Vanakkam Chennai and subsequently sang and composed other songs for South Indian movies.^[12]

In August 2012, Arjun was selected to sing the official theme song for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 alongside Bathiya and Santhush.^[13] He also produced music for the Sri Lankan Premier League, performing at the opening ceremony of the tournament held at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo in August 2012.^[14] In October 2012, Arjun won ‘Best Urban Act’ (in association with the MOBOs) at the UK Asian Music Awards 2012.^[15] He received the award from MOBOs founder Kanya King and Choice FM’s DJ Kojo. He also performed as a headline act at the Award Ceremony, held at Wembley Arena.

In September 2014 he performed at Diwali in Time Square, New York, to a crowd of over 200,000.^[16] The same year, Arjun signed a record deal with T-Series, India’s biggest music label.^[17] ‘I’ll Be Waiting’, his first single with T-Series album charted at #1 on the iTunes India Chart.^[18] Arjun again won Eastern Eye Artist of the Year in 2014.^[19]

In April 2016 he released the song “Suit” with Guru Randhawa which went on to win ‘Club Song of the Year’ at the PTC Awards in 2017 It was also voted ‘Punjabi Song of the Year’ on BBC Asian Network. It was later featured in the Bollywood movie ‘Hindi Medium’ starring Irrfan Khan (released May 2017).^[20]

In March 2018, he featured in Humza Arshad's parody of the viral Nike advertisement, known as "Nothing Beats A Londoner", featuring notable Londoners from underrepresented minorities such as Juggy D, H-Dhami, Tasha Tah, Sevaqk, Bobby Friction, Raxstar, Tez Ilyas, Mumzy Stranger, Steel Banglez, Char Avell, Jay Sean, Corner Shop Show (Islah Abdur-Rahman, Michael Truong, Can Snatchy Kabadayi) and Naughty Boy.^[21][22]

In March 2018, Arjun Released his First Debum Album named Closer To Home with Dypha Productions Under The Record Label - Universal Music Group which was at Trend at iTunes Store. His Album contained other Artists such as - ThePropheC, Manifest. He also did a Collaboration with Raxtar on VIP Records named Lost Our Way on 11 July 2018.

In February 2018, Arjun got married to his P.A. named Natasha Sandhu who died in a cardiac attack on 20th September 2018.

Discography

Closer to Home album

• "Vaadi".^[24] (2018)
• "Catch Up" (2018)
• "In Your Head" (2018)
• "Alone".^[25] (2018)
• "Represent" (2018)
• "S.O.S.".^[26] (2018)
• "Shoulda Met Me First"^[27] (2018)
• "Love & War" (2018)
• "On the Way" (2018)
• "Closer to Home".^[28] (2018)

Remixes

• "Why This Kolaveri Di" (English R&B Remix)" (10 December 2011)
• "Kabhi Kabhi" (feat. Shivali & Natasha) (20 September 2011)
• "Chammak Challo R&B Remix" (24 January 2012)
• "Zara Zara" (3 April 2012)
• "Teri Meri" Remix (feat. Priti Menon) (25 June 2012)
• "Run Away"(Thuli Thuli Rude Boy Remix) (19 September 2012)
• "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (Super Bass Remix) (24 March 2013)
• "Tum Hi Ho" (You Got It Bad Remix) (feat. Rekha Sawhney) (26 June 2013)
• "Kabhi Jo Baadal Barse (I'll Be Waiting)" (with Arijit Singh) (23 April 2014)
• "Excuse Me Girl (Ambarsariyya)" (feat. Reality Raj & Rekha Sawhney) (19 September 2014)
• "Mohabbat Barsa De (Sawan Aaya Hai)" (Arijit Singh, Samira Koppikar) (7 October 2014)
• "I Know You Want It (Sheila Ki Jawani Remix)" (11 January 2015)
• "Baarish (All of Me)" (feat. Tulsi Kumar ) (27 May 2015)
• "Can't Forget You (Tujhe Bhula Diya)" (feat. Jonita Gandhi) (10 September 2015)
• "Drunk in Love (Beyonce remix)" (3 December 2015)
• "Bailando / Zaalima / Despacito" (Spanish Hindi Mashup) (June 22, 2017)
• "Milan" (Deep Money feat. Arjun) (2017)
• "Alone" (The PropheC feat. Arjun) (2017)

Soundtracks

• Vanakkam Chennai – "Oh Penne – International Version" (2013)
• Biriyani – "Bay of Bengal" (2013)
• Vaaliba Raja – "Ice Cream Penne" (2014)
• Sanam Ho Ja (2016)
• Love is Blind (2018)
• Lost the Way (2018)

Personal life

Arjun was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His mother is Sinhalese and father is Tamil.^[29] Arjun's father Indrajit Coomaraswamy is the present governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. On 29 September 2018, Arjun released a statement of the loss of his wife Natasha Sandhu. She was his publicist and an integral part of his music career. She passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest. He has since taken a break from his music career.

References

External links

• Official website