INFORMATION
| Artist Birtday : | 15/06/1944 (Age 66) |
| Occupation(s) : | Film director, Playback singer, Actor |
Vasudevan (15 June 1944 – 20 February 2011), popularly known as Malaysia Vasudevan, was a prolific Malaysian Tamil playback singer and actor. Born in the town of Kuala Selangor in the Federated Malay States (present day Malaysia), he moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu to work in the Kollywood film industry, where he rose to prominence. His voice was recently revived using AI in the song ‘Manasilaayo’ from the 2024 Tamil film Vettaiyan.
Malaysia Vasudevan’s first major song was in the film Delhi to Madras, that starred Jaishankar and Srividya. It was a comedy song “Paalu Vikkira Padma Un Paalu Romba Suthhama?”, for the music director V. Kumar. This chance was made possible by his friendship with the film’s producer Pollachi Rathnam. After that, he joined the Pavalar Brothers troupe which was run by Ilaiyaraaja and his brothers.
During a stage performance, music director M. S. Viswanathan heard Vasudevan and gave him a small piece of a song in Bharatha Vilas (he sang for the Punjabi in “Indhiya Naadu En Veedu”) and then a song in Thalai Prasavam. His first big break came when Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan made him sing “Kaalam Seyyum Vilaiyattu” in Kumasthavin Magal. Vasudevan was rechristened Malaysia Vasudevan by A. P. Nagarajan in this film.
Later, when his good friend Ilaiyaraaja debuted in the Tamil film industry with Annakili, he was asked to sing in the film, and after “Aattukutti Muttai Ittu” from 16 Vayathinile happened, Malaysia Vasudevan never looked back. Ilaiyaraaja backed him until he became a star singer.
Malaysia Vasudevan has sung close to 8,000 songs in his career spanning three decades, most for Ilaiyaraaja. Illayaraja made Malaysia Vasudevan sing songs of all types and genres. Malaysia Vasudevan performed each song with utmost sincerity and surprised everyone with the range he had.
