KJ Yesudas, the man with the unforgettable silken voice, is one of India's best known classical vocalists and the Hindi and Southern film industry's popular playback singers. He has recorded classical, devotional, and popular film songs in various Indian and foreign languages. Over the years, he has also been honoured with many awards for his contribution to Indian music. Born Kattassery Joseph Yesudas in Cochin, Kerala, Yesudas received training in Carnatic music from his father Augustine Joseph Bhagavathar, a theatre artiste and classical singer. Later, he joined the RLV Music Academy in Thrippunithura for more professional training. He also attended the Sree Swathi Thirunal Music Academy (later, the Sree Swathi Thirunal College of Music), solidifying his base in the art. In his early years, Yesudas worked under a number of music legends like Kunjan Velu, KR Kumaraswamy, Chemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, and Pallavi Narasimha Achariya.

Yesudas got his first big playback singing break in the Malayalam film, Kaalpadukal (1969). His popularity zoomed and by the mid-1970s, he had started singing for the Hindi film industry as well. His first big success in Hindi films was Basu Chatterjee's Chhoti Si Baat (1975). In his long career of more than five decades, Yesudas has sung over 60,000 songs in various languages, including Latin, English, Russian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. He has been most prolific in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He has also worked with major film personalities such as MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, NT Ramarao, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

During this time, while he was exploring various genres of music, Yesudas also set up a music company in Chennai named Tharagini. The company greatly contributed to the Malayalam music as it introduced the concept of stereo sound in music recordings.

He also played a few acting roles in some Malayalam films, such as Anarkali (1965), and Kayamkulam Kochunni (1966).

In 1968, he was invited by the Soviet Government as a cultural delegate to perform in various parts of the country. In the Middle East, Yesudas has performed Arabic songs in Carnatic style and garnered international acclaim for experimenting with various styles of music. In 2001, he recorded Ahimsa, a multi-lingual album in Sanskrit, Latin and English mixed with contemporary and Carnatic music. This unique effort gained him much critical appreciation.

He has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 2001 and at the prestigious Sydney Opera House in 2006.

He has been awarded with the title 'Asthana Gayakan' (Official Singer) by the government of Kerala. He has also been bestowed with an honorary award (for ‘Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace’ by UNESCO) in 1999. Apart from that, he was awarded both the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, in 1975 and 2002 respectively.