Karthik Raja is a Tamil musician from Chennai, India. He made his debut as music composer in the Tamil film Alexander.^[1][2][3]

Personal life[link]

Karthik Raja is the eldest son of musician Ilaiyaraaja and Jeeva. His brother Yuvan Shankar Raja and sister Bhavatharini, who are also Tamil Film music directors and playback singers, have worked with him on notable projects. He graduated from St. Bede's School in Chennai. On June 8, 2000, Karthik Raja married Raja Rajeswari at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Career[link]

Born to a family of musicians, he had exposure various kinds of music at a very early age.^{[citation needed]} He had his formal training in Western Classical music from the Trinity School of Music, mainly in piano (affiliated to Jacob John).^{[citation needed]} He also had training in Carnatic music from T. V. Gopalakrishnan and Dakshina Murthy Swami.^{[citation needed]} To this day he derives most of his inspiration from classical music (Western and Indian) and jazz.^{[citation needed]}

As a child, he often used to accompany his father to the recording studios.^{[citation needed]}. At the age of 13, Karthik Raja played the keyboard for the song Kannukkum from the Tamil movie Ninaikka Therinda Maname (1987). Many such outings followed including playing keyboard for the soundtrack of the movie Nayagan. Karthik also arranged many recordings for his father and composed his first song Pandianin Rajiyathil for the movie Pandiyan (1992) and Ninaikindra for the movie Athma (1993). Around this time, he also composed some background score for the TV series Bible.^{[citation needed]}

He debuted as a full fledged composer in 1996 through the Tamil movie Alexander, soon followed by Manikyam. Then came many chart-busters that included Ullaasam, Naam Iruvar Nammaku Iruvar, Kadhala Kadhala and Dumm Dumm Dumm among others. He also debuted into Hindi films with Grahan which won him the R D Burman award for the best new talent.^{[citation needed]}

He also known for his symphonic and jazz arrangements. He also accompanied his father on numerous outings, notably in Thiruvasagam Project.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]