Stephen Devassy

Stephen Devassy
Background information
Born (1981-02-23) 23 February 1981
Genres Classical, Indian, world music
Occupation(s) Pianist, composer, arranger
Years active 1998–present
Associated acts Seven, Rexband, Dhundhubi
Stephen Devassy performing
Stephen Devassy on stage

Stephen Devassy (Malayalam:സ്റ്റീഫൻ ദേവസ്സി, born 23 February 1981) is a musician hailing from Palakkad, Kerala. He started his career at an early age, and has performed on stage around the world. He also holds the record for being the highest Asian scorer in Piano exams from Trinity College of Music.

Biography

Stephen was born to P.K.Devassy & Susy. He has an elder brother, Sam Devassy, and a sister Biju Solomon. He did his schooling at Seventh Day Adventist school, Ottapalam. He went on to NSS College for pursuing his Pre-Degree. He achieved his degree from Trinity College, London. He holds the unparalleled distinction of completing 8th grade piano at the age of 16. And [1] Stephen married Jesna Joy on 16 November 2010.They have a son born in 2015.

Career

Stephen Devassy performing in Doha

Devassy's first major break came when he was aged 18, through Johny Sagarika, for whom he did the music orchestration of six songs on the album Ishtamannu. He then went as an accompanying artist to play the keyboard for Hariharan on his European tour. He has also accompanied the violin maestro L. Subramanian at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival.[2]

At age 19, he started a music band called Seven, with singers Franco Simon and Sangeeth. A Hindi pop band, they released an album titled Yeh Zindagani.

Stephen, who started performing at a young age, has done the music arrangement for many films. Some of the films he scored were Majaa, Thambi, Nammal, Azhagiya Thamizh Magan and Hariharan's album, Waqt Par Bolna.[3]

Hariharan Pillai Happy Aanu (2003) was his maiden music directorial venture in Malayalam.

He is one of the regular band members in Rexband, a Christian contemporary band singing gospel fusion, a musical outreach of the Jesus Youth Movement. He performed with the band before Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day performance in 2002 at Canada. At the time, it was the only catholic band invited from India. Stephen has orchestrated an instrumental version of the popular Rex Band melodies called Different Vibes.[4]

In association with Kosmic Music, Stephen has also set to tune to a background of Western music, Sanskrit slokas, mantras and verses from the Upanishads, called Sacred Chants of Kosmic Music, and albums of holy chants on Ganesha, Shiva and Vishnu.[5]

He has also assisted Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan with his album of Christmas carols, Breaking Barriers..

He has released his album Romanza, which was a mix of world music sprinkled with the flavor of piano. Indian ragas have been treated with the rich use of contemporary piano. Hariharan, Ouseppachan and a Russian vocalist appeared as guest artists on the album.

Stephen’s solo stage shows have propelled him to the top league of onstage performers.[6] Stephen Devassy made appearances in Vijay TV's music reality shows, such as season 2 and season 3 of Airtel Super Singer in Amrita TV (Malayalam), and also Josco Indian Voice in Mazhavil Manorama (Malayalam), accompanying then-contestants of the show, such as Saisharan and Alka Ajith.

He appears as pianist in popular reality music show in Mazhavil Manorama television channel.

Achievements

Stephen holds a record as Asia’s highest scorer in solo piano exams from Trinity College of Music, London[6][7] with a score of 92.2%. He also holds the record of completing the course in three years’ time.

Stephen Devassy is recently featured in the 5Talents Magazine on the coverpage with his life story.

Discography

Film Director Actors Year Language
Hariharan Pillai Happy Aanu Viswanathan Vaduthala Mohanlal, Jyothirmayi 2003 Malayalam
KQ Baiju Johnson Parvathy Omanakuttan, Baiju Johnson 2013 Malayalam

References

  1. ↑ http://www.stephendevassy.com/about.php
  2. ↑ "The Hindu : Life Chennai : Village boy from Palakkad climbs the music ladder". hindu.com. Chennai, India. 12 June 2005. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "Key notes". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  4. ↑ "Stephen Devassy profile". Webindia123.com. 23 February 1981. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  5. ↑ "The right keys to success". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 12 May 2006. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  6. 1 2 Rasheed, PMA (14 January 2008). "My efforts are to change the colour of music". khaleejtimes.com. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "He keys in music". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
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