Multi-faceted singer Dee Devan opens up about her music journey, and her entry to Kollywood as a playback singer.
Dee Devan is one of the most promising singers in Kollywood now, and she is now collaborating with artists across the globe for exciting music projects. Her music journey began at the age of eight, when she saw her mum playing the veena. Surprisingly, the singer is a lot more inclined towards Western music. When asked if she has lost touch with Carnatic music, Dee says, “It is true that my vocal style has been heavily influenced by music from the West because of my foreign upbringing, but my foundation in singing began in my paatu class, while learning Carnatic music. I still continue to be a student of Carnatic music.”
Dee’s brief Opera training, helped her discover her voice range. “I had trained with an Opera teacher nearly 10 years back. I had a natural vibrato in my voice and wanted to improve and strengthen my high soprano range. I believe those nine months of training certainly paved the path for me. That and several years of vocal technique coaching with my coach Brandon Brophy has helped me achieve a range I can be proud of,” she says.
Elaborating on juggling dancing and singing, she quips, “I have been dancing as long as I have been singing. I took a hiatus from Bharatanatyam, when my former job at a corporate company demanded a lot of travel.”
There’s more to Dee than this — “When I was in grade five, my English teacher asked me for an English poem as a homework assignment. I had no idea what poetry was till she introduced it to me that day. I have been writing poetry at leisure ever since.”
Dee gave up her environmental engineering consulting career to pursue music full-time. “I knew there were risks involved, but I simply wanted to stay open-minded. I see now that I had so much to gain from being brave enough to make the jump,” she recalls.
Her playback journey in K’town began with composer D Imman. Speaking about her experience, she exclaims, “Mr. Imman has been such a great mentor, my experience recording a solo track for Vinodhan was unforgettable. He had heard my demo a couple years back and liked my voice. It just so happened while in Chennai this year, a friend re-introduced me to him and the rest is history.” Dee has also worked with Ghibran and the announcement regarding the number is expected to be out soon.
Talking about being one of the lead vocalists for a popular South Asian Tamil band, AGNI, in Toronto, she says, “I have also released collaborative singles with two producers from North America — Begin is an uplifting electronic dance song by MRCO and Parallel, is a future-bass electronic song. I wrote the lyrics and sang for both. We are currently working on a music video for that song and it will be out soon,” she signs off.
