Raghav

Raghav Mathur, born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from Kayastha Uttar Pradeshi Indian parents, started singing at the age of five when an old Hindi tape got stuck in the cassette player of the family car. Continuous repetition of the same song allowed Raghav to memorize the track. When his aunt asked his mother what Raghav did, his mother inevitably replied 'nothing'. Raghav decided to show he could do something by singing the very song that kept repeating in the car. Since then, Raghav's parents supported his dreams to be a musician. The tri-lingual (English, Hindi, French) Canadian started to sing Indian classical music at his local temple and in school performed at local choirs. Brian Ferrel was his music teacher, and at the age of 15, music became a heavy feature in his life and alongside the Indian influences at home, became heavily influenced by R&B. By the time he was 16, he wrote a song that was deemed good enough to be awarded the National Songwriters Association of America. At this point Raghav started to receive scholarships from music schools across the breadth of the United States, before finally deciding at 17 to move to Los Angeles to develop his vocal skills by Seth Riggs who has trained, amongst others, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. A year later he moved to Liverpool, England where he studied at the Institute of Performing Arts and working with diverse musicians, DJs and producers. During his time in college he joined R&B band 11/7 which was nominated for a Mobo for best unsigned artist. 11/7 did not win, but the nomination was enough to bring Raghav a communal heads up from the watching music types and led to a solo management deal and an introduction to the highly influential Sly & Robbie and British R&B producer Mushtaq. So far in 2007 Raghav has just recently released a new track titled "Quincy Jones" for the airwaves (which can be heard on Youtube). After a long wait, Raghav's new album "Identity" is scheduled for release January 2009.