Carnatic singer Sudha Raghunathan gets Padma Bhushan

Popular Carnatic composer and vocalist Sudha Raghunathan was Sunday named for the Padma Bhushan on the eve of the 66th Republic Day.

Raghunathan will get the award for her contribution to art and music over the last three decades.

Born in a Tamil Brahmin family in Bangalore in 1977, she was initially trained in Carnatic music by her mother, a music teacher, from the age of three.

Later, she trained under B.V Lakshman and M.L Vasantha Kumari (MLV), whose student she remained for 13 years.

At 20 years of age, Raghunathan was singing about 20 concerts per month. Although pushed into music at a very young age, she had always dreamt of becoming a doctor but it was a government scholarship for music that changed her mind.

Her introduction to concerts began with accompanying MLV on the tanpura.

She has performed in India as well as abroad over the years and has been performing at the Madras Music Season since 1990 in memory of her guru MLV, who passed away that year.

In 2004, she was conferred the Padma Shri. She is also the recipient of Sangita Kalanidhi and Kalamamani awards.

She is married and has two children.