Arijit was born on 25 April 1987in Jiaganj, Murshidabad, West Bengal to a Punjabi father and a Bengali mother.He initiated training in music from his house, since his maternal grandmother used to sing and his maternal aunt was trained in Indian classical music. His maternal uncle also played the tabla. He also learnt music from his mother who sung and played the tabla. For studies, he went to Raja Bijay Singh High School and later Sripat Singh College, a University of Kalyani affiliate.According to him he was a decent student, but cared more about music. His inclination towards music led his parents to decide on training him professionally. He was taught Indian classical music by Rajendra Prasad Hazari and trained in tabla by Dhirendra Prasad Hazari while Birendra Prasad Hazari taught him Rabindra Sangeet and pop music.At the age of 3 he started training under Hazari brothers, and at the age of 9, he got a scholarship from the government for training in vocals in Indian classical music.
During his growing up days he used to listen to Mozart, Beethoven and Bengali classical music.[citation needed] Arijit idolised musicians like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Zakir Hussain and Anand Chatterjee. He also enjoyed listening to Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey.
Singh married Koyel Singh, a resident of the Nehaliapara area of Jiaganj but they divorced in 2013.In 2014 he married Koyel Roy, a childhood friend. He has two children.
Early career
Arijit's musical career began when his guru Rajendra Prasad Hazari who felt that Indian classical music was a dying tradition insisted him to leave his hometown and participate in the reality show Fame Gurukul( 2005) at the age of 18.Though he approached the finals of Fame Gurukul, but got eliminated at 6th position by audience polling.
During the show, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali recognised his talent and made him sing Yun Shabnami a song scheduled to be used in his upcoming film Saawariya, However, during the filmmaking process as the filmscript changed the song was no longer required and it was never released.Similarly after the show Fame Gurukul, 'Kumar Taurani' the head of Tips recognised his potential and talent and signed him for an Album. However, the album was never released.
After Fame Gurukul, he participated in another reality show 10 Ke 10 Le Gaye Dil, which he wonHe choose to settle at Mumbai in the year 2006 and decided to freelance, staying in a rented room in the Lokhandwala area of Mumbai.He invested the prize money of 10 ke 10 Le Gaye Dil show in building his own recording studio, where he started composing the music and singing pieces for advertisements, news channels and radio stations.It was at that time that he, lacking any opportunities at singing, decided to become a Music Producer subsequently, Arijit spent a part of his early musical career as a Music Programmer and Music Producerto music directors like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Mithoon, Monty Sharma and Pritam. As per him assisting Music Directors was the only way for him to survive in a city like Mumbai.While working with other composers he used to supervise the vocals, chorus section etc. but it was while working with Pritam, that he started to produce and programme music by himself.
About his early life struggles, he said: - One has to suffer pain to reach their destination, those days when I failed to get work, I thought about quitting and going back in my hometown, but I realised that one should concentrate on one's work no matter what happens.Regarding his early musical career's journey and his moving from the small village of Jiaganj to a city like Mumbaihe later said: - Mumbai is a place which is made up of small town boys and girls who come to Mumbai to try their luck, but what counts is Hardwork.
