KK

Indian Bollywood artist Krishnakumar Kunnath (August 23, 1968), better known by his stage name KK, was a playback singer from New Delhi. Besides his tight connections with the Hindi film industry, he has also performed in a whole host of different languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, and Gujarati. Before rising to fame as a playback singer, he recorded over 3,500 advertisement jingles. After moving to Mumbai in 1994 with the sole purpose of breaking into Bollywood, KK got his first recording opportunity on A.R. Rahman's "Kalluri Salley." Slowly but surely, he continued to assert his presence on the silver screen with songs like "Hello Dr." from Kadhal Desam (1996) and "Strawberry Kannae" from Minsara Kanavu (1997). However, the biggest success of his career arrived in 1999 when Sony Music released his studio debut Pal, which exposed him to a wider audience through chart-topping hits like the title track, "Aap Ki Dua," and "Yaaron." The album helped KK win Best Singer at the Screen Awards and was followed by his sophomore effort Humsafar in 2008. Only a year later, he took home another Screen award for Best Playback Singer - Male thanks to his work on the 2008 rom-com Bachna Ae Haseeno. Over the next few years, KK made regular appearances on TV shows such as Fame Gurukul, Coke Studio, and Indian Idol Junior. The beloved singer passed away at the age of 53 on May 31, 2022, after suffering a cardiac arrest.