Arjun Coomaraswamy, The Sri Lankan-British singer-songwriter, record producer wins Hearts

Arjun Coomaraswamy, known better by his stage name Arjun, uses contemporary Western and Eastern sounds while combining R’n’B with South Asian music. His grooves have got him quite the attention among Asian youngsters across the world.

In 2019, Arjun released a song tribute entitled ‘One Last Time’ for his wife Natasha Sandhu who died in September 2018 due to a sudden cardiac arrest. The music video has received over a million views and peaked #12 on trending in the UK.

Early and personal life

Arjun was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His mother is Sinhalese and his father is Tamil. Arjun’s father Indrajit Coomaraswamyis a former governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Arjun, who has kept his relationship status away from the public, had admitted he wed his “soul mate” in February 2018. He said, “It was our little secret, which brought us even closer together.” 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 died due to a sudden cardiac arrest on 20 September 2018. On 3 December 2019, he released the song “One Last Time” dedicated to her. The music video includes some footage of his wife.

In his Facebook post, Arjun said, “On September 20th Natasha passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest. I am struggling to put into words how I feel,” adding that “her passing has come as a total shock to myself and to our families”.

Arjun, who recently collaborated with Momina Mushtehsan for “Aya Na Tu” further said, “She was my soul mate and the person I had chosen to spend my life with. At my lowest points, it was Tash who lifted me up and made me believe in myself. She believed in me from day one. She shared my intense love for music, and when I wrote songs she was the first person I would play them too. So many of my songs have been for her and about her.”

Arjun further said that he chose to keep his personal life private and it was their “little secret, which brought us even closer together”.

Career

Arjun rose to attention following an R&B cover version of the Tamil song “Why This Kolaveri Di” which was uploaded on YouTube in December 2011. Arjun’s R&B Remix (“How could you do this to me?”) of “Why This Kolaveri Di” attracted over 3 million YouTube views in one month, He was later featured on CNN, NDTV and Star News. The song now has over 204 million views.

Arjun is a multi-instrumentalist, and plays the guitar, piano, bass, drums, and flute, in addition to singing and beat-boxing. He has had a growing presence on YouTube and on social media since 2011. He has currently over 750 million views on YouTube, over 1,500,000 Facebook fans, 350,000 Instagram followers, and 110,000 Twitter followers. He has performed on every continent.

Arjun became known for his fusion of contemporary Western and Eastern sounds, combining R&B with elements of South Asian music. Arjun was nominated for ‘Best Newcomer‘ at the ‘Brit-Asia Music Awards 2011’. In December 2011, His song ‘Stargazer’ was voted the number 2 song on the first-ever Asian Video Chart on Kiss Tv (No.1 was A.R Rahman’s group ‘Super Heavy’, which included Mick Jagger & Joss Stone.)

In January 2012, Arjun was chosen as one of MTV’s “Brand New” (the Top 20 Unsigned Acts) out of thousands of contestants. Brand New has previously featured artists such as Jessie J and Tinie Tempah.

Arjun won Best Urban Act at the 2012 UK Asian Music Awards. In 2012 Arjun played the role of Luke Lewis in the new online drama “Steffi”. 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.

In August 2012, Arjun was selected to sing the official theme song for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 alongside Bathiya and Santhush. 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. In October 2012, Arjun won ‘Best Urban Act’ (in association with the MOBOs) at the UK Asian Music Awards 2012. 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 early 2013, Arjun did a live acoustic session on BBC Radio 1 and was later profiled by DJ’s Fearne Cotton and Nihal on Fearne’s Radio 1 show.

In July 2014, he performed at Rock Assembly in Wembley Arena, alongside Conor Maynard, Professor Green and Ella Eyre. In August 2014 he was a Guest of Honour and sang at the India Day Parade in New York City, the largest annual gathering of Indians in the US.

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

In 2016, Arjun was awarded “Musical Artist of the Year” by Anokhi Media, North America’s leading South Asian entertainment and lifestyle media and events company, based in Toronto.

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).

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. Vidya Vox collaborated with Arjun in 2017 for Joshua Tree for the original song, “Diamonds.”

In March 2018, Arjun released his first album named Closer To Home with Dcypha Productions under the Island Records label of the – 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 2019, Arjun featured in the soundtrack of the Indian film “Gully Boy” on the song “Goriye”, and also collaborated with Dutch artist First Man on the song “Soniyere”.

In 2019 Arjun created a World Cup Remix of “Dance” with f1rstman, Juggy D, Raxstar, and Mumzy Stranger.

Discography:

Albums

• 2018: Closer to Home

Songs

• “Remember Tonight” (21 July 2010)
• “Stargazer” (feat. Raxstar) (24 January 2011)
• “Vampire” (feat. Starz) (4 July 2011)
• “With Us or Against Us” (with JAY MO) (16 January 2012)
• “Run Away/ Thuli Thuli” (2012)
• “Same Girl” (feat. Guru Randhawa) (5 December 2012)
• “Take It Back” (16 September 2013)
• “I’ll Be Waiting / Kabhi Jo Baadal” (2014)
• “Excuse me Girl / Ambarsariya” (2014)
• “I Know You Want It / Sheila Ki jawani” (2015)
• “All of Me / Baarish” (2015)
• “Can’t Forget You / Tujhe Bhula Diya” (2015)
• “Frozen”(feat. Sway) (18 December 2015)
• “Drifter” (feat. Andrea Jeremiah) (14 February 2016 )
• “SUIT” (feat. Guru Randhawa^[32]) ( 24 June 2016 )
• “Sanam Ho Ja” (2 September 2016)
• “Akhiyan” (feat. Falak Shabir) (27 December 2016)
• “Alone” (2017)
• “Diamonds” (feat. Vidya Vox) (2017)
• “Vaadi” (2018)
• “Vaadi Remix” (2018)
• “S.O.S. ” (2018)
• “Shoulda Met Me First” (2018)
• “One Last Time” (2019)
• “Tingo” (with Mickey Singh) (2019)

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) (22 June 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)
• Creature 3D – “Mohabbat Barsa De” (2014)
• Hindi Medium – “Suit Suit” (2017)
• Gully Boy – “Goriye” (2019)

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