BOSTON–Award-winning composer and playback singer Shankar Mahadevan has seen it all: four national awards, hit albums, teaching music in 67 countries via his online academy, and a heart attack at age 48.

Shankar Mahadevan and Dr. Manju Sheth

In an exclusive video interview with Chai with Manju, Mahadevan talks about this all and about his simple philosophy of life.  To view the full video interview, please click here.

The man who speaks Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Urdu, Hindi and English also has a very cool lifestyle. His advice about life and music is simple : (1) don’t schedule time for family, but schedule time around family; and (2) keep your life positive because we all have limited time and energy, and for music lovers and musicians: Get your database full of good music. It becomes your benchmark.

Mahadevan visited Boston as artist in residence at Berkelee College of Music  where he met with Chai with Manju for celebrity interviews. He was scheduled to perform with the Berklee Indian Ensemble in the group’s sold-out Berklee Signature Series concert at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston. The concert is produced by Annette Philip and Clint Valladares , artistic and managing directors of the Berklee India Exchange, which serves as a platform for cultural conversation about Indian music through artist residencies, musical collaborations, and performances.

Mahadevan started learning music from childhood and graduated with Computer Science and Engineering degree from Ramarao Adik Institute of Technology in 1988. He then worked as a software engineer for Oracle before launching his music career. He rose to fame with the release of his musical album entitled Breathless in 1998.

Mahadevan is a four-time winner of the National Award: three times for Best Male Playback Singer and once for Best Music Director, according to Wikipedia. He is also the founder of the Shankar Mahadevan Academy, which provides online music lessons in Indian music for students in 67 countries.