S. Rajam

S. Rajam was a distinguished Indian Carnatic musician and painter from the state of Tamil Nadu. He was born on February 10, 1919 in Chennai to Sundaram Iyer and Parvathi alias Chellamma. His father was a patron of Papanasam Sivan and many other musicians in Mylapore, Chennai. He was a student of the Carnatic musician Papanasam Sivan and the older brother of Tamil film director and musician S. Balachander and actress S. Jayalakshmi. Rajam made his Tamil film debut in the 1934 film Seetha Kalyanam. He acted in a few more films in the lead role, before becoming a full-time musician - especially renowned for his singing - and painter. He worked as a staff artist and music supervisor at All India Radio. He is known for his series of portraits of the Trinity of Carnatic music - Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. He is also known for popularising Koteeswara Iyer's musical compositions. He was a member of the Madras Music Academy. He received several awards and honors for his contributions to music and art, such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (in 1991), the Sangita Kala Acharya by the Music Academy, Chennai, and the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai. He married Ananda Rajam and had two sons, S. Ramanathan and S. Ramesh Kumar, who are also musicians. He died on January 29, 2010 at the age of 90 due to old age. He was cremated at the Besant Nagar Crematorium in Chennai.