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Indian vocal prodigy Shreya Ghoshal began her impressive career at age four. Raised in a high-achieving family, parented by a nuclear engineer father and literary scholar mother, Shreya displayed immense talent early on. Trained initially by her mother, she began her formal study of Hindustani classical music in the nearby town of Kota. Her breakthrough into the mainstream media came when she auditioned and was accepted onto the music talent search show Sa Re Ga Ma on Zee TV. Ghoshal's trajectory through the competition was unstoppable, and she won both the 75th special children's episode and ultimately the children's mega-final in 1996 at the age of 12. Film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali noticed, and offered the young talent the playback role of Paro in the Bollywood feature film Devdas. In 2000 Ghoshal began recording for the film, which was released the following year. Ghoshal's career skyrocketed, and she quickly became one of Bollywood's premier playback singers, singing for the genre's most recognizable actresses. Her performance on the song "Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai" for the 2003 film Jism earned Ghoshal a spot on national airplay charts and significant success outside the film industry. Ghoshal went on to win eight industry awards for her work, including the National Award in 2003. Ghoshal's mastery of several regional languages like Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu in addition to her native Hindi marks her as a truly special talent in the Indian recording industry. Though her path through higher education has not followed a musical path, Shreya Ghoshal continues to be a staple in studios throughout India. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez

With his unique fusion of hip-hop, R&B, and Bollywood, the multi-talented Raghav became one of the biggest Asian crossover artists in the U.K., with a string of hit singles. Born in Toronto in 1981 and raised in Calgary by his Kayastha Uttar Pradesh Indian parents, Raghav started singing at the age of five after memorizing a Hindi tape that was on constant rotation in the family car. With the support of his parents, he began singing Indian classical music at the local temple and in his school choir. A song he wrote at age 16 was deemed worthy of a National Songwriters Association of America award, and he soon received scholarships from music schools across the U.S. After traveling to L.A. to work with vocal coach Seth Riggs, who had trained Madonna and Michael Jackson, he moved to Liverpool, where he studied at the Institute of Performing Arts. While there, he joined the R&B group 11/7, who went on to receive a nomination for Best Unsigned Act at the MOBO Awards. After being offered a solo management deal, he signed to A&R Records, where he worked with Sly & Robbie and British producer Mushtaq.

In 2004, he collaborated with 2Play on the singles "So Confused" and "It Can't Be Right," both of which reached the Top Ten. In the same year, he scored solo hit singles with "Can't Get Enough" (number ten) and "Let's Work It Out" (number 15), and released his debut album, Storyteller. In 2005, after a fifth hit single, "Angel Eyes" (number seven), he picked up two gongs at the U.K. Asian Music Awards, a MOBO Award for Best Collaboration, and a Southern Asia Music Award, and performed in front of large audiences in places as diverse as Bombay, Miami, and London. After parting company with his label, he signed to Palestar Entertainment and Homepage Records. In 2008, he embarked on the Unforgettable Tour, an 18-country series of stage shows featuring Bollywood's biggest stars, and returned with his second album, Identity. Written and produced by the likes of Cutfather & Joe, Niara Scarlett (Girls Aloud), and Jazzwad (Damian Marley), it featured the lead single "My Kinda Girl," a collaboration with Redman. ~ Jon O'Brien