INFORMATION
| Artist Birtday : | 10/05/1978 (Age 46) |
| Born In : | Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh |
| Occupation(s) : | Singer, television presenter, voice artist |
Sunitha Upadrashta is a well-known Telugu film actress, playback vocalist, anchor, host, and dubbing artist from India. Most of her work is associated with the South Indian film industry. In South Indian cinema, People call her the “Queen of Melody”.
She has received nine Nandi Awards and Two Filmfare Awards South in different categories in her singing career. She also got a National Award from All India Radio at the age of 15 in the light music category. 1999 was the year when she got her first Nandi award.
After that, She won the Nandi Prize many Times, from 2002 to 2006 and then again from 2010 to 2012.
She was honored with the Lata Mangeshkar Best Singer Award by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2011 and with a New Jersey state recognition award in 2019 by the state’s Senate and General Assembly. The state of New Jersey even passed a resolution in her honor for her contributions to the fields of music and Indian cinema. It was a rare achievement for any Indian Artist.
In 1995, Sunitha started her commercial singing career with the release of the film Gulabi, establishing herself as a top playback singer in The South Indian Cinema Industry.
She also has the talent to host and anchor any musical flagship shows which she proved by hosting the historic Amaravati foundation-laying event in 2015.
She acted as a judge for The iconic musical program Padutha Theeyaga started and presented by the Legend SP Balasubramaniam.
She has been dubbed for more than 110 actresses in about 750 films as a voice-over artist.
As an artist, Sunitha frequently has to travel across the country for her live performances the world over. She has traveled for her live performances in more than 19 nations, including Singapore, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Oman, Bahrain, Mauritius, Qatar, Japan, Tanzania, Uganda, Malaysia, Scotland, Australia, Ireland, and the United States (almost every year since 1999).
Her early and personal life
Born on May 10, 1978, in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, she was brought up in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. She belongs to a musical family from Vijayawada. Her mother, Sumathi Upadrashta, is a homemaker, while her father, Upadrashta Narasimha Rao, is a music lover.
Right from the young age of 6, She began studying light music with the well-known Kalaga Krishna Mohan and Carnatic vocals with Shri Pemmaraju Surya Rao.
At a very young age, She started getting the opportunity to perform in concerts especially those organized by All India Radio. She along with her teacher, Pemaraju Surya Rao, took part in Tyagaraja Aradhana Utsavalu when she was only 13.
In her childhood and teenage life, she performed in a number of competitions, winning numerous prizes and receiving praise for her brilliant performance.
At the age of 19, she married media professional Kiran Kumar Goparaju, but later both of them got divorced. They have two children named son Akash and daughter Shreya.
Later, Sunitha married a businessman Rama Krishna Veerapaneni in January 2021.
Career
Sunitha started playback singing in films when she was 17. Thanks to music director Sashi Preetham who gave her the first chance of her life to sing a song in his film Gulabi and her debut song is “Ee Vela Lo Neevu” which is written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry.
She also sang a song for a Kannada film “Bhoomi Geetha” in 1997, which was composed by Ilayaraja.
She had had the opportunity to work with numerous renowned directors like M.M. Keeravani, Vidyasagar, Ilayaraja, S.V. Krishna Reddy, A.R Rahman, Raj, Ramana Gogula, Mani Sharma, Vandematharam Srinivas, Mickey J. Mayer, Sandeep Choutha, S.A. Raj Kumar, Nihal, Chakri, R.P. Patnaik, Devisri Prasad, Saluri Vasu Rao, Kalyani Malik, Sunil Kashyap, Anup Rubens, C V. Harikrishna, Madhavapeddi Suresh, Saketha Sairam, S. Thaman, Jassie Gift, etc.
She sang around 3000 songs for numerous south Indian movies. She has also performed playback singing for other language films like Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu.
Awards
Nandi Awards
1. 2012: Best Female Dubbing Artist (voice of the Nayantara)
2. 2011: Best TV film “Mamathala Kovela”
3. 2010: Best Female Playback Singer for film “Anthahpuram”
4. 2006: Best Female Playback Singer for the film “Godavari Sunitha”
5. 2005: Best Female Dubbing Artist
6. 2004: Best Female Dubbing Artist (voice of Kamalinee Mukherjee)
7. 2003: Best Female Playback Singer for film “Athade Oka Sainyam”
8. 2002: Best Female Dubbing Artist for film “Jayam”
9. 1999: Best Female Playback Singer for the film “Antha Rangaalu”
Filmfare Awards
1. 2014: Best Female Playback Singer (Telugu) for the song “Em Sandehamledu”
2. 2010: Best Female Playback Singer (Kannada) for the song “O Priyathama”
3. 2010: Nominated – Best Female Playback Singer (Telugu) for the song “Egiripothe”
4. 2010: Nominated – Best Female Playback Singer (Kannada) for the song “Prathama”
5. 2009: Nominated – Best Female Playback Singer (Telugu) for the song “Neela Neela Mabbulu”
Other Awards
1. 2019: Vishishta Seva Puraskar by I Stand For The Nation NGO
2. 2019: New Jersey state recognition award for her contributions to the world of music
3. 2013: T. Subbaram Reddy Lalitha Sangeeta Puraskar
4. 2013: Certificate of Recognition by California Legislature Assembly
5. 2011: Lata Mangeshkar Best Singer Award, presented by the State Government
6. 2011: Ghantasala Melody Queen Award
7. 2006: Kala Sudha Award
8. 2004: Sangam P Susheela Youth Award with Gold Medal
9. 2003: Best Playback Singer award from European Telugu Association, London
