Alisha Thomas is a playback singer in the Tamil film music industry. She is best known for her hit song, Don'u Don'u Don'u, from the Dhanush blockbuster Maariwith composer and co-singer Anirudh, which topped the charts and remains to be a popular number to this day across the world.
Alisha’s most recent playback song release is a duet called “Uyirae Vaa” for the 2019 film Puppy. This release was accompanied by a promotional music video, in which she is featured on screen alongside co-singer Gautham Vasudev Menon and composer Dharan Kumar.
Alisha was also shortlisted for the Best Original Song in the 2017 Academy Awards, along with Qutub-E-Kripa, an ensemble of musicians from AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory in Chennai.
A South-Indian freelance performing and recording artist - originally from the Washington D.C. area - Alisha is currently based in Chennai, India, with a specialty in multilingual vocal performance. She began her training in Carnatic music at the age of five in the Jayamangala School of Music & Dance under the tutelage of Smt. Jaya Nathan, and she learned the basics of Western music through her active involvement as a young church vocalist and piano student.
Prior to her music career, Alisha had completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and was employed full-time for two years at Willow Creek Community Church, a church comprising of 25,000 members in Chicago, IL. She worked there as a producer, vocalist, and voice-over artist, in addition to being a part-time Carnatic vocal instructor for beginner students in the music school where her own passion for music began. After relocating to Chennai in 2014, she pursued and completed further musical education and vocal training in Western Opera and Hindustani music at A.R. Rahman's KM Music Conservatory.
Alisha was also a member of A.R. Rahman's vocal band NAFS (directed by Arjun Chandy) and his opera band Sempre Libera (directed by Dr. Adam Greig) in 2017.
Beyond singing, Alisha worked as a line producer for A. R. Rahman's upcoming VR film 'Le Musk,' which was shot in Rome, Italy, and is currently in the post-production stage.
Alisha now freelances as a session artist, songwriter, lyricist, and live performer. Her future plans include writing and producing her own EP/album and continuing to work within the Indian film music industry, and hopefully expanding beyond the Tamil & Telugu Film Industries.
