Harris Jayaraj facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Harris Jayaraj
Harris at the launch of his Studio H
Born	(1975-01-08) 8 January 1975 (age 50) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Composer music producer songwriter musician keyboardist guitarist
Spouse(s)	Suma Jayaraj ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	2
Musical career
Origin	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Genres	Film score, World Music, Soundtrack
Instruments	Guitar, Synthesizer, Piano, Percussion, Keyboard
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Sony Music India T-Series Think Music India Divo Ayngaran Junglee Aditya Zee Saregama

J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is a famous Indian music composer. He is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He mostly creates music for Tamil films. He has also composed for some films in Telugu and two films in Hindi.

Harris Jayaraj has received many special awards. The Government of Tamil Nadu gave him the Kalaimamani Award. He also got a Life Time Achievement Award. This was from Konijeti Rosaiah, who was the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Since 2001, he has won 6 Filmfare Awards South. He has also won 6 Mirchi Music Awards, 5 Vijay Awards, and 4 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. In 2019, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree. This was for his big contributions to Tamil cinema music.

Early Life and Musical Journey

Harris Jayaraj grew up in Chennai. He started learning carnatic music at age six. His father, S. M. Jayakumar, was a well-known film guitarist. He wanted Harris to become a guitarist too. Harris learned classical guitar from Mr. A. Abdul Sattar.

Harris scored the highest mark in Asia for his 4th grade exam. This exam was from Trinity College of Music, London. He began his music career in 1987 when he was twelve. He started as a guitarist. Later, he became interested in playing the keyboard and synthesizers. He learned to program music on his Roland MC-500.

Between 1987 and 2000, he worked as a music programmer. He worked for over twenty-five music directors. He helped with more than 600 projects. These projects were in many different languages. He worked with famous composers like A. R. Rahman. Harris also composed music for TV commercials. One famous one was for Coca-Cola with actor Vijay.

Film Career Highlights

Harris Jayaraj started as a film composer with the movie Minnale. This was in 2001. The music in the film was very popular. Especially the song Vaseegara sung by Bombay Jayashri. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil for Minnale.

He also composed for the Hindi version of Minnale. It was called Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein. Most of the songs from the Tamil version were used again. His next albums, 12B and Majunu, were also very well-liked.

Harris made his debut in Telugu cinema with Vasu. He won more awards for his work in Kaakha Kaakha. This film starred Suriya and Jyothika. The songs from this movie were a big hit. In its Telugu remake, Gharshana, new songs were added.

He worked with director S. Shankar for the big film Anniyan. This was a special project. The music album for Anniyan won many awards. He also composed for Ghajini. The songs from Ghajini were a huge success. One song, "Sutum Vizhi," was downloaded over 20 million times!

Harris also worked on Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu with Kamal Haasan. The director, Gautham Menon, said they put a lot of effort into the music. He shared the whole script with Harris.

In Anegan, his song "Danga Maari Oodhari" became an instant hit. It used a special slang from North Madras. After some time, Harris worked with Gautham Vasudev Menon again. This was for the film Yennai Arindhaal. The music was very popular on radio stations in Chennai in 2015.

Live Concerts

Harris performing live

In 2011, Harris Jayaraj started his first musical world tour. It was called "Harris on the Edge." He performed live around the world. Many famous Tamil singers joined him. These included Karthik, Haricharan, and Chinmayi. The tour started in Chennai. Then it went to Coimbatore and Dubai.

Studio H

Harris opened his own new studio on January 8, 2017. He named it Studio H. This studio has the latest music recording systems. The first song made there was "Halena" from Iru Mugan. The entire soundtrack for S3 was also created in this studio.

Guest Appearances

• 2011 Ko - in song 'Aga Naga Naga'

Discography

As a Music Director

Notes:

• • Indicates languages of original release.
• ♦ Indicates a film remade in another language with a different cast, retaining Harris as the composer.
• # indicates the soundtrack album has one or more bonus songs composed by a different composer.
• The movie Thotti Jaya has an additional track "Indha Ooru" composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja used only in the Tamil version of the movie. It was replaced in Telugu by the song "Ee Calcutta" composed by Harris.
• The movie Sathyam was shot in Telugu as Salute; however, the songs were not reshot.
• The movie Force has four songs composed by Harris. Film scoring is done by Sameer Phatarpekar with some themes having some of their melodies borrowed from the songs.

Upcoming Projects

As a Lyricist

Music Videos

Ad Jingles

Harris has composed music for many TV commercials. One famous one was for Coca-Cola. It featured actor Vijay. In 2008, he worked on the Herova? Zerova? ad campaign. This campaign helped children who left school early in Tamil Nadu. He helped create a short video about child poverty and lack of education. It starred actors like Suriya, Vijay, and Jyothika.

Personal Life

Harris is married to Suma Jayaraj. They got married on October 18, 1999. They have two children. Their son is named Samuel Nicholas Harris. Their daughter is named Karen Nikitha Harris. Nikitha was born in 2006. She is also a playback singer. She sang her first song, Vinnil Vinmeen, for the movie Kaappaan. She won an award for it in 2020.

Awards and Recognitions

Harris Jayaraj has won many awards for his music. Here are some of his special honors:

• 2009: Received the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.
• 2015: Honored with a Life Time Achievement Award. This was from the Governor of Tamil Nadu.
• 2019: Given an Honorary Doctorate of Letters. This was for his important work in Tamil cinema music.

He has also won several Filmfare Awards South for Best Music Director:

• 2002: For Minnale (Tamil)
• 2004: For Kaakha Kaakha (Tamil)
• 2006: For Anniyan (Tamil)
• 2009: For Vaaranam Aayiram (Tamil)
• 2010: For Ayan (Tamil)

He has won Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Best Music Director:

• 2003: For Kaakha Kaakha
• 2005: For Anniyan / Ghajini
• 2011: For Ko

Other notable awards include:

• 2013: SIIMA Award for Best Music Director for Thuppakki.
• 2008: Vijay Award for Vaaranam Aayiram.
• 2009: Mirchi Music Award for Best Album of the Year for Ayan.
• 2011: Edison Award for Best Music Director for Ko.