The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists Alamelu and H.A.S. Mani, Hariharan inherited his parents’ musical talents. Alamelu was Hariharan’s first guru from whom he learnt Carnatic music. He was also exposed to Hindustani music from a young age. Later, he started training in Hindustani music from well-known Rampur-Sahaswan vocalist Ghulam Mustafa Khan.

Hariharan is known as much for his live performances as for lending his voice to film and television. In 1977, he won the All India Sur Singaar Competition and was signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for his new Hindi film Gaman (1978). He won the Uttar Pradesh State Film Award, as well as a National Award nomination for his song in this film.

Hariharan is one of India’s foremost ghazal singers. He has sung and composed for more than thirty albums. He received the Diva Award for the Best Album of the Year in 1994.

Hariharan has sung in many languages like Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali. Hariharan received the best male playback singer award in the 1995 Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards. In 1998, Hariharan won the national award for the best playback singer and got another National Award for a Marathi song in the year 2009.

In 1996, Hariharan formed the band Colonial Cousins with Mumbai-based composer and singer Leslie Lewis. Their first album Colonial Cousins won several awards including the MTV Indian Viewers’ Choice award.

In 2004, Hariharan was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Yesudas Awards for his outstanding performance in music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hariharan_(singer)