Biddu - Early Career (1960s)

Early Career (1960s)

Biddu's family originally hailed from Kodagu in the Karnataka state of India, but he was born and brought up in the city of Bangalore, also in Karnataka, India. He carries the clan name of Chendrimada. In the 1960s, as a youth, he developed a liking for the then new pop and rock music, as he said in a media interview, listening to pop hits played on the shortwave radio band of Radio Ceylon of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), which was then popular throughout Asia. He learnt to play the guitar and in his late teens and early twenties he frequented the clubs and bars of Bangalore, and soon started a music band called 'Trojans' with a few friends, including Ken Gnanakan, who later went on to start an NGO called "ACTS". The band was India's first English-speaking band, and found success belting out cover versions of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Trini Lopez and hits of other Western stars of the day, in the clubs of Bangalore and also other Indian cities, such as Calcutta and Bombay. The band, however, split after a while, with Ken Gnanakan deciding to study, leaving Biddu alone in the business, playing under the name 'Lone Trojan'. As the 'Lone Trojan' he played to enthusiastic crowds in a fancy night club called "Venice" in Bombay located opp. the Eros movie theater.

Biddu had a penchant for even bigger things in popular music, and in 1967 decamped for England, with less money and a journey through the Middle East, which he mostly made on doles handed out for singing catchy numbers and playing guitar everywhere he could. A few months after leaving India, at the age of 23, Biddu arrived in England, the country where he had dreamt of making it big; as he said in an interview to the BBC, years later: "I didn't really know too much about England or anything - I'd just come here on the chance of meeting the Beatles and doing some music. Everything that I did had this danceable flavour". Within a few months of his arrival, he had met The Beatles, but expressed disappointment that "Lennon was dressed so badly."

In England, he supported himself doing odd jobs and also working as a chef in the American Embassy. His attempts at becoming a singer in England were unsuccessful and, according to Biddu, “as an Indian in those days they were happier to hire me as an accountant than as a singer.” He eventually gave up on his ambition to become a singer and instead decided to produce his own records rather than working for a record company. He saved a few pounds before he decided to rent studio time and record several singles, none of which ever received any airplay from UK radio stations.

Biddu's first major success was in 1969, when he produced the song "Smile for Me", performed by The Tigers, who were Japan's most famous band at the time, and written by the Bee Gees. Since the band did not speak English, Biddu had to show them how to sing the English lyrics phonetically. Following its release that year, the song topped the charts in Japan. His success abroad in Japan would later pave the way for his later success back in Britain.