Vijay Yesudas (born 23 March 1979) is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.Vijay made his debut as a singer with the 2000 Malayalam film Millennium Stars, which had music composed by Vidyasagar. Vijay Yesudas won three Kerala State Film Awards for Best Singer for the songs "Kolakkuzhal Vili Ketto" in Nivedyam (2007), "Akaleyo Nee" in Grandmaster and "Mazhakondu Mathram" in Spirit (2012), and "Poomuthole" in Joseph (2018). He has also won five Filmfare Awards for Best Singer and four SIIMA Awards for Best Male Playback Singer. He made a foray into acting by playing the villain role in the Tamil film Maari (2015) and the lead role in the Tamil film Padaiveeran (2018).

Early life

Vijay Yesudas was born to singer K. J. Yesudas and Prabha. He is the second son in the family, having an elder brother named Vinod and a younger one, Vishal. He is the grandson of stage singer Augustine Joseph. He studied in Chennai until 9th grade and went to the U.S. for further studies. He graduated from Florida International University with a BA in music.

Career

Vijay Yesudas started learning Carnatic music in the early 1997. He is popular for songs sung under composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. He has collaborated with various other composers such as Dakshinamoorthy Swami, Ilaiyaraja, A. R. Rahman, Raveendran, Hamsalekha, Deva, Ouseppachan, Vidyasagar, Mani Sharma, M. M. Keeravani, and Mohan Sitara along with new-generation composers such as Karthik Raja, M. Jayachandran, Sabesh–Murali, Harris Jayaraj, G. V. Prakash Kumar, D. Imman, Srikanth Deva, and Deepak Dev.Vijay made his playback debut in the 2000 Malayalam film ''Millennium Stars'', on the composition of Vidyasagar. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer for "Kolakkuzhal Vili Ketto" in ''Nivedyam'' (2007). Vijay made his acting debut in the 2010 Malayalam film ''Avan''.Vijay Yesudas started learning Carnatic music in the early 1997. He is popular for songs sung under composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. He has collaborated with various other composers such as Dakshinamoorthy Swami, Ilaiyaraja, A. R. Rahman, Raveendran, Hamsalekha, Deva, Ouseppachan, Vidyasagar, Mani Sharma, M. M. Keeravani, and Mohan Sitara along with new-generation composers such as Karthik Raja, M. Jayachandran, Sabesh–Murali, Harris Jayaraj, G. V. Prakash Kumar, D. Imman, Srikanth Deva, and Deepak Dev.Vijay made his playback debut in the 2000 Malayalam film ''Millennium Stars'', on the composition of Vidyasagar. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer for "Kolakkuzhal Vili Ketto" in ''Nivedyam'' (2007). Vijay made his acting debut in the 2010 Malayalam film ''Avan''. In 2013, he won his second Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer for "Akaleyo Nee" in ''Grandmaster'' and "Mazhakondu Mathram" in ''Spirit'' (2012). In 2015, Vijay sang "Malare" in the Malayalam film ''Premam'', went viral among young audiences. The song was often shared soon after its video release, he also had another successful song, "Hemnathamen Kaikumbili" from ''Kohinoor''. That year, he also acted as villain in the commercially successful Tamil film ''Maari''. His performance received appreciation. He has sung 178 Malayalam songs and 118 Tamil songs.

Personal life

Vijay with wife Darshana in 2013
Vijay met his future wife Darshana at a music concert held in Dubai on 2002 Valentine's Day. After five years of dating, he married Darshana in 2007 at Trivandrum. They have a daughter, Ammeya, and a son, Avyan.