Ash King


Ash King is a singer, songwriter and composer of Bengali origin based in London. He made his playback singing debut in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Delhi-6. He is a relative of prominent Indian singer Kishore Kumar.

Personal life

Ash King hails from a family of musicians who has shaped his relationship with music. His grandfather Brajendra Lal Ganguly was the first Indian classical music teacher at Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's home and school Shantiniketan, and also a prominent freedom fighter for India and close ally of Subhas Chandra Bose and first cousin of Kishore Kumar's father. King spent his childhood surrounded by celebrated musical artists with whom his father worked closely with. Music has always run in his family. His father used to perform with Ravi Shankar in India back in the sixties. He recalls that when he was very young, George Harrison visited their house at Wembley as he was into Indian classical music. His mother hails from Karamsad, Gujarat.
Influenced early on by joining a Gospel choir and listening to soul artists such as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Luther Vandross, King's style and flavor deliver a sound that is easy on the ear and alluring even for those who aren't drawn to his specialized genre. However, you would be mistaken to think King's talents lie in just the one genre.

Career

His first Bollywood break was with A. R. Rahman on the film Delhi-6 which he recorded at Rahman's personal studio. Rahman invited King, to his London home after friends sang his praises. He was impressed with the 25-year-old's voice, he flew him to Chennai to record in his private studio. Since then he has gone on to sing Te Amo for the film Dum Maaro Dum, I Love You for the film Bodyguard and featured on Suno Aisha from the film Aisha.
Ash Featured on Lady Gaga's official single for Bad Romance on a remix of Just Dance, this was also used in the remix album and the Asian release of the album.
Ash is also a prominent singer in the UK, having sung and co-written the song Love Is Blind which he sang with singer Ramzi and featured on the song Look For Me with Hard Kaur. In 2011, Ash performed at some of the biggest events in the UK including performances at Glastonbury Festival for the BBC and also performed on the main stage at the BBC London Mela.
After 2011, in 2012 Ash was appointed for a Bengali song "Kothin" of Bojhena Shey Bojhena film. He also took part in MTV India's prestigious 'MTV Unplugged' – Series 2, with a whole episode dedicated to his hits. Other performers included A R Rahman, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan. In April 2013 he headlined a concert at the prestigious Southbank Centre in London, alongside Sufi/Bollywood singer Harshdeep Kaur.

Filmography

YearFilmSong NameCo-SingerComposerNotes
2009Delhi-6Dil Gira DafatanChinmayiA. R. Rahman
2010AishaSuno AishaNakash Aziz, Amit TrivediAmit Trivedi
2011Dum Maaro DumTe Amo Sunidhi ChauhanPritam
2011BodyguardI Love YouClinton CerejoPritamNominated – IIFA Awards for Best Male Playback Singer
2011Mujhse Fraaandship KarogeUh-Oh Uh-Oh!Shilpa RaoRaghu Dixit
2011Mujhse Fraaandship KarogeUh-Oh-Uh-Oh 2.0Shilpa RaoRaghu Dixit
2012Ek Main Aur Ekk TuAunty JiBianca Gomes, Neuman Pinto, Piyush Kapoor, Fionas PintoAmit Trivedi
2012Paanch AdhyayPhire Paoar GaanSoloShantanu MoitraBengali Film
2012Oh My God!Tu Hi Tu SoloHimesh Reshammiya
2012RushChup Chup KeMuazzam, Rizwan Ali KhanPritam
2012RushHote HoteHard KaurPritam
2012Bojhena Shey BojhenaKothinSayani GhoshArindom ChatterjeeBengali Film
2013Shortcut RomeoShortcut RomeoSoloHimesh Reshammiya
2013Baat Bann GayiNaseebaSoloHarpreet Singh
2013Baat Bann GayiDance KarnaSardar AliHarpreet Singh
2013Sooper Se OoperBehka BehkaTeesha NigamSonu Nigam & Bickram Ghosh
2014HeartlessMashooqanaArunima BhattacharyaGaurav Dagaonkar
2014Savaari 2Yello MareyaagiSoloManikanth KadriKannada Film
2014HumshakalsLook into My EyesNeeti MohanHimesh Reshammiya
2014Bang Bang!MeherbaanShilpa Rao, Shekhar RavjianiVishal-Shekhar
2015ITum Todo Naa Sunidhi ChauhanA. R. Rahman
2015ITum Todo Naa Bela ShendeA. R. Rahman
2015Parbona Ami Chartey TokeyUre Geche Chinta Bhabna Ghum Mone Mone Ekdom Rong BaloonMonali ThakurIndradeep DasguptaBengali Film
2015Shudhu Tomari JonyoJeno Tomari KacheSomlata Acharyya ChowdhuryArindom ChatterjeeBengali Film
2015Shudhu Tomari JonyoDekhte Bou BouPrashmita PaulArindom ChatterjeeBengali Film
2016DeewarenSukhwinder Singh, Shaan, Javed Ali, Suraj Jagan, Kunal Ganjawala, Jonita GandhiVinay JaiswalSingle by The Moody Nation
2016Hero 420Chaichi TokeSoloSavvyIndo-Bangladesh Film
2016Prem Ki BujhiniAmi RajiMadhubanti BagchiSavvyIndo-Bangladesh Film
2016Ae Dil Hai MushkilAlizehArijit SinghPritam
2016SaanseinMera PyarArijit Singh, Swati Sharma, Dev Negi, Joi BaruaVivek Kar
2016Ami Tomar Hote ChaiEi Tukro Premer GolpoSoloShafiq TuhinBangladesh Film
2017Half GirlfriendBaarishShashaa TirupatiTanishk Bagchi
2017Ami Je Ke TomarBhalobeshe FelechJonita GandhiIndradeep DasguptaBengali film
2017Flat 211Chocolatey CakeSoloPrakash PrabhakarHindi film
2017A GentlemanBandook Meri LailaJigar Saraiya, Rap: Raftaar, Sidharth MalhotraSachin-Jigar
2017Guest iin LondonDil MeraShahid Mallya, Prakriti KakarRaghav Sachar
2018StreeNazar Na Lag JaayeSachin-JigarSachin-Jigar
2019Oriplast OriginalsAmi Shudhu Tomar SoloAjay SinghaBengali Album

Non-film