Meet Priya Darshini, the NY-based Indian singer whose debut album has won her a Grammy nomination

New York-based Indian singer Priya Darshini’s eclectic personality, which reflects in her music, has helped her come a long way – from collaborating with Grammy awardees to getting nominated for the 63^rd edition of the annual Grammy Awards.

Priya Darshini’s latest album ‘Periphery’ has won her a 2021 Grammy nomination. She is currently signed with Chesky Records and also dabbles in voice-overs and music composition from time to time. Priya Darshini, who has mastered many a trades with ease, is also an accomplished actor, athlete, and entrepreneur.

Priya had submitted her debut album ‘Periphery’ to the Grammy Awards in the categories ‘Best New Age Album’ and ‘Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical)’ in October.

After the list of nominees for the 63^rd Grammy Awards – which will be held on January 31, 2021 -- was released on November 24, Priya Darshini took to Instagram to announce her nomination in the ‘Best New Age Album’ category. The South Indian singer who grew up in Mumbai, wrote: “A Live album, recorded entirely on One mic getting nod from the Academy is really quite surreal.”

Speaking about the album, Priya Darshini had said earlier: “I wanted to explore music that brings out the most vulnerable aspects of a person; that raw and unfiltered emotion. What does that music sound like? We wrote the whole record in the twelve days leading to the recording. The entire album was recorded on ONE mic, in an abandoned church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. What we got was an authentic view into that isolated, vulnerable and powerful space.”

Some of the songs from the album that won her a Grammy nomination are: ‘Jahaan’, ‘Loneliest Star’, ‘The Banyan Tree’, and ‘Sanware Sanware’.

Chesky Records describes Priya as a singer who has her roots in Indian Classical music. Her “knowledge of music from all over the world has resulted in a fresh, imaginative and fascinating new sound. She displays an exciting combination of range, technique, unconventional compositions, a feminist perspective, and a prodigious voice that truly sets her apart from other vocalists.”

She has worked with several artists from Pearl Jam, Grammy Award winners Roy “Futureman” Wooten, Jeff Coffin, Philip Lassiter, and ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, among others.

Notably, the 37-year-old singer had won many accolades for her performance in The Letters -- A Hollywood biopic on Mother Teresa. At the age of 23, she had become the first Indian woman to complete the 100-mile Himalayan Ultra Marathon.