From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harris Jayaraj
Born	January 08, 1975 (1975-01-08) (age 32) Chennai, India
Occupation	Film composer, Musician
Website	http://www.harrisjayaraj.com/

Harris Jayaraj (Tamil:ஹாரிஸ் ஜெயராஜ்)(born January 8, 1975) is a music composer from Tamil cinema. He has written scores and soundtracks and played music for many Tamil films, as well as Telugu and Hindi films. He lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Over a period of six years, Jayaraj has established himself as one of the leading composers in South India.

Harris Jayaraj was born into a pious Christian Nadar family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He studied at the Krishnasamy Matric School, Chennai and later obtained a music degree in London, England. His father, S.M. Jayakumar, is a film guitarist who later became a noted Indian musician and composer.

Harris Jayaraj entered the world of film music as a musician, playing the Tabla and other percussions for many films under the famous music director of south india A.R Rahman. He started his career by composing beats for TV advertisements. His first music score for a commercial movie was for the Tamil film Minnale (2001). The music was well received, especially the song, "Vaseegara", made the film becoming a big box office hit, running the charts for weeks. After Minnale, Harris composed music for the Tamil movies 12B and Kovil which were once again a huge musical super hit. His first music score in Bollywood was for Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein, a remake of Minnale', which was again, a Hit.

In 2005, he composed for the movies like Anniyan and Ghajini. The song "Suttum Vizhi sudarae" from the film Ghajini, was well received.

Harris has always been the favourite composer of movie director Gautham Menon as both of them are very successful in Tamil film industry, however they have worked "together" in a series of hit movies like Minnale ,Kaaka Kaaka (2003), Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007) and Varanam Aayiram, that is currently under production.

• Jayaraj has said that his favorite musicians are Aruljothi balagopal (who played the tabla for Neem Musicals ) and M.S.Viswanathan.
• Harris Jayaraj has been a keyboardist and percussionist for various music directors based in South India. He has predominantly worked with A R Rahman, Karthik Raja, Vidhyasagar. He has assisted Adithyan in various projects like Seevalaperi Pandi, Asuran etc.,
• Music Director Dharan who had worked for movies like Parijatham, Sivi etc., has been working under Harris Jayaraj.
• Some of the singers introduced by Harris Jayaraj include Nakul, Saindhavi, Srilekha Parthasarathy, Madhumitha, Nikhil Matthew, Mahathi and Suchithra Ramanathan.
• Harris Jayaraj has recently revealed that his choice for singing 'Ragasiya Kanavugal' in Bheema was P.Susheela. However, due to later not in active singing career, he had to opt for Madhushree.

Jayaraj is married to Joyce [formerly Suma]. The couple have a son called Samuel Nicholas and a daughter called Karen Nikita. His father Jayakumar is a noted evangelistic musician.

• Harris Jayaraj at the Internet Movie Database
• Hits of Harris Jayaraj
• http://themusicalharris.com/ a website started by his fans
• http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/awesomeharris/ - Harris Jayaraj Fan Group
• http://www.harrisjayaraj.com/ - Official Website