Jonita Gandhi is a Canadian playback singer of Indian descent. She has recorded songs predominantly in Hindi and Tamil languages with few in Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam languages. Some of her most acclaimed songs include The Breakup Song, Mental Manadhil, Chellama and Arabic Kuthu. She is also well known for her YouTube presence. Her singing debut started through Chennai Express in 2013.
Years active: 2011–present
Born: October 23, 1989, 34 years old and 4 months, New Delhi, India
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Height: 5 ft 4 in – 1.625 cm
Measurement: 34-25-35 – 86.36-63.5-88.9 cm
Bra size: 34B US – 75B EU
Genres: Classical, Western, pop, jazz, playback
Instruments: Vocals, keyboard
Family
Ethnicity Asian (Indian)
Father – Deepak Gandhi (Electronics engineer and works as a musician as part of a hobby)
Mother – Unknown
Siblings – Mandeep Gandhi (Brother)
Education
Jonita Gandhi went to the Turner Fenton Secondary School. After the completion of her school education, she got enrolled at the Richard Ivey School of Business. She graduated from there with an honors degree in business administration.
Jonita also went to the University of Western Ontario and graduated with a Bachelor of health science.
To polish up her musical skills, she took classes at the Ontario Conservatory of Music, where she received training in western classical music.
Personal life
Gandhi was born in a Punjabi family from Delhi. Her family emigrated to Brampton, Canada when she was nine months old, where she was raised. Her family later settled in Mississauga.
Gandhi studied in Turner Fenton Secondary School and attended the Ivey Business School of the University of Western Ontario where she completed her degrees in health science and business in 2012. She has had formal training in Western and Hindustani classical singing.
Career
Gandhi grew up around music as both her father and brother were part time musicians. They would often perform cover songs together at live community events. At age 16, she auditioned for Canadian Idol but didn’t get past the audition rounds. She began making YouTube covers from her bedroom, sometimes featuring other local musicians including Akash Gandhi. The videos quickly went viral and led to a myriad of opportunities to perform. Her hits on YouTube began with covers of well-known Hindi-film songs, such as, Pani Da Rang, Tujhko Jo Paaya, Tum Hi Ho, Suhaani Raat, Yeh Honsla and many others. Her beginning concerts typically consisted of these covers.
Her jump to playback singing began with an opportunity to perform alongside Sonu Nigam. This tour crossed various countries including Russia, UK, US and the Caribbean. Afterwards, her sights were set on starting a career in the Bollywood music industry. Gandhi started playback singing with Chennai Express. The music for this film was composed by Vishal–Shekhar. She further worked in other Bollywood movies like Highway, singing both Kahaan Hoon Main and Implosive Silence.
Gandhi worked as a playback singer with music directors including A. R. Rahman and Pritam. Rahman featured Gandhi in the concert film One Heart (film). Gandhi performed at the 2016 Jubilee Games in Dubai with Salim–Sulaiman and with Amit Trivedi on MTV Unplugged.
In 2020, Jonita Gandhi was involved in mentoring and judging the Indian kids singing reality show Taare Zameen Par on StarPlus
As of 2021, Gandhi is set to make her film debut with director Vignesh Shivan‘s Tamil film Walking/Talking Strawberry Icecream, starring Krishnakumar Balasubramanian.
As a part of IPL 2023 Closing ceremony, Jonita gave her musical performance alongside with DIVINE at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
As a Singer
Jonita has lent her voice to several different language movies including those in Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, and Bengali. Jonita has also performed for a couple of Pakistani movies such as Punjab Nahi Jaungi and Rangreza.
First TV Show
Jonita Gandhi made her first television show appearance in Coke Studio in 2013.
Jonita Gandhi Favorite Things
Music Genre – Romantic songs
Songs – Lag Jaa gale from Woh Kaun Thi, Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha from Anpadh, and Aji Rooth Kar Kahan Jaiyega from Aarzoo
International Singer – Beyonce Knowles
Song To Sing Live – Lag Jaa Gale
Jonita Gandhi Facts
She got her early breakthrough in the music industry with the popularity of her covers of popular songs that she posted on her YouTube channel.
While growing up, she didn’t receive any formal music training. She instead learned all by herself by listening to the songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.
After she graduated from the university in 2012, she was selected by Sonu Nigam to be part of his musical tour. She later decided to move to Mumbai to try her luck at playback singing in Bollywood.
She met music producers Vishal and Shekhar through a mutual friend. They were working on Chennai Express soundtrack and allowed her to record a scratch on the title track, and eventually decided to keep her song on the album.
If she hadn’t become a singer, she would have loved to become an investment banker.
She got into music at a very young age and by the age of 7, she had given her first public performance as her father got her to perform with his band at one of their gigs.
When she was 7 years old, her family moved to Canada from New Delhi. She grew up in Brampton and Toronto.
When she was 17 years old, she started collaborating with Akash Gandhi for the YouTube videos, which served as her first success.
Apart from singing in various Indian languages, she can also sing in Italian, French, and German.
She has often performed in the concerts for popular Indian singers such as Amit Trivedi, Pritam, A.R. Rahman, and Salim-Sulaiman.
Pinterest, Her Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube.