Hariharan (born 3 April, in Puthan Theruvu (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala in 1955) is an Indian playback singer in Hindi and Tamil movies, an established ghazal singer, and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music.

Hariharan grew up in Bombay (Mumbai) and has bachelor degrees in science and law. The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists, Shrimati Alamelu and the late H.A.S. Mani, Hariharan inherited his parents' musical talents. Alamelu was Hariharan's first guruji (mentor). From her he picked up Carnatic music skills. He was also exposed to Hindustani music from a young age. In his teens, inspired by the songs of Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh, Hariharan developed a passion for ghazals and started training in Hindustani music from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to put in nine hours of singing practice everyday. The committed Hariharan also put heart and soul into learning Urdu when he decided to become a ghazal singer. He has perfected his Urdu diction to such standards that even his audiences in Lucknow, the heartland of the language, have been wowed over.

In 1977, Hariharan bagged the top prize in the All-India Sur Singaar competition and was promptly signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for the Hindi film "Gaman". His ghazal "Ajeeb Saane He Mujh Par Qarar" in that movie became such a hit that it won Hariharan an Uttar Pradesh state award, and Hariharan's playback singing career took off.

In his early years, Hariharan did the concert circuit and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials (e.g., "Junoon") and has sung with many Pakistani musicians (e.g., in "Strings"). In addition, he cut several successful ghazal albums, writing most of the scores himself. One of Hariharan's first ghazal albums was "Abshaar-e-Ghazal" with Asha Bhosle, which went gold in sales. Another outstanding ghazal album was "Gulfam", which not only hit double platinum in sales but also fetched Hariharan the Diva Award for the Best Album of the Year in 1994.

Hariharan entered the Tamil filmdom in 1992 with the patriotic song Thamizha Thamizha in Maniratnam's film Roja. He was judged best male playback singer in the 1995 Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards for his soulful rendition of the song Uyire Uyire in Maniratnam's Bombay.

The year 1996 was a career milestone; he released the fusion album Colonial Cousins with Bombay-based composer/singer Leslie Lewis. This was the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged. It won a string of awards including the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice award.

Despite being an admirer of Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Yesudas and S.P. Balasubramaniam, Hariharan has developed a distinctive style of his own.

In 2004, he was awarded the Padma Shri.

1955 births | Living people | Tamil musicians | Indian film singers | Ghazal singers | Padma Shri awardees | Kollywood playback singers