Devi Sri Prasad

Biography

Devi Sri Prasad (born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter, and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu and Tamil-language films and has also worked in a few Hindi films.

He is a recipient of ten Filmfare Awards, nine of which are Best Music Director – Telugu and one Special Award for Best Background Music, five CineMAA Awards, seven SIIMA Awards, and one Nandi Award. He is one of the highest-paid music composers in Tollywood.

Devi has worked on over 100 films over the span of 20 years. He began his music career in 1997, by composing one of the eight tracks in the studio album Dance Party. He composed the soundtrack of Anandam in 2001, by which he made a breakthrough in Tollywood and Telugu music.

In the same year, he made his Tamil debut by composing the film score and singing two songs of Badri. Devi also choreographed a song in the 2015 film Kumari 21F.

Devi Sri Prasad was born as Gandham Devi Sri Prasad in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh into a Telugu-speaking family. His father, G. Satyamurthy, was a screenwriter in Telugu cinema, who has penned popular films like Devatha, Khaidi No. 786, and Pedarayudu.

His father hails from Vedurupaka. He is named after his maternal grandparents, Devi Meenakshi, and Prasada Rao. He grew up in Madras, now Chennai, and attended Sir M. Venkata Subba Rao School in T. Nagar.

Contrary to popular belief that 'Devi' was prefixed to his name after his debut film, he was named after his maternal grandparents. He has one younger sister and one younger brother, Gandham Sagar, who is a playback singer. Their father passed away in December 2015.