Can’t get enough of Raghav

British-Indian singer Raghav conducts himself like a star — rushed telephone interviews, PR people constantly hovering about, and absolute secrecy about his whereabouts. But then, after four smash hits on the UK charts, who can blame him?

Five years ago, the song So Confused from his album Storyteller reached No. 4 in the UK Singles chart, while Can't Get Enough, It Can't Be Right and Let's Work It Out came in at Nos. 10, 8 and 15 respectively. The album, Angel Eyes, rocked both the UK and Indian charts for weeks; teens across the world couldn't get enough of 27-year-old, Raghav Mathur — better known by his first name.

Some years later, the singer with the endearingly awkward dancing style is still a heartthrob. His performance at Hard Rock Café (organised by VH1 Global Music Express) earlier this week ran to a packed house, with teens yelling “We love you, Raghav”. One fan came all the way from the US for the show. “I had seen him perform in New York and fallen in love with him and his music, so here I am,” says Priya Gunecha, 18.

What makes Raghav's music special, anyway? His ability to meld, quite easily, hip-hop, R&B and reggae with Indian classical and Bollywood, and English with Hindi in songs. But Raghav prefers a more philosophical spin. “My life inspires my songs. I would retire if my music wasn't drawn from life. My album Storyteller was about relationships and how, in my teens, like the average teenager, I occasionally fell in love but didn't find the right girl.”

Surely, four years later, he's not still singing about teen relationships in his latest album, Identity? “It's about my kinda girl,” he laughs, referring to the defining single. “The album has three Hindi songs, My Kinda Girl, Humrahee and Jadugar. I am in India to promote the new album which releases four years after Storyteller. But I'm not nervous. If people don't like this record, I will come up with a new one.”Then, he adds, at his PR best: “My Indian fans are the closest to my heart, and I can't wait to see them up close and personal, having a great time with me on tour.”

Unlike other British-Asian musicians, Raghav was not born in the UK but in Calgary, Canada, to parents of Indian origin. “At 15, music became a passion for me. My parents are both from UP, so there were a lot of Indian influences around me. I grew up listening to Mohammed Rafi,” says the singer who has also had “semi-classical” music training. 

By the time he was 16, Raghav was awarded by the National Songwriters Association of America, and a year later, moved to the US to work with vocal coach Seth Riggs (who has also trained Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder). “Riggs took me under his wings and told me I have to be absolutely committed to my music to get somewhere,” says Raghav. “Once I walked into Riggs' studio only to see him training Stevie [Wonder].”

There are other things about the singer you probably didn't know. At 18, when he moved to Liverpool to study at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, he also formed an R&B band called 11/7 with friends. “The band manager died of leukemia, and 11/7 was his birthday,” says Raghav. “We were like the Jackson 5, strong on vocals.” The band eventually disbanded, but not before a year-and-a-half of shows and a MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) nomination for Best Unsigned Artiste.

Raghav's success is creditable by any standards. At 23, he produced the album Storyteller, that sold 1.3 million copies worldwide, and two lakh copies in India.

So how is it different performing in India? “I can totally relate to the music scene in India. But at times I get upset knowing success is judged by how popular one is or how many times one has been featured in the newspapers,” he is candid. “A singer could be doing good work, but if he isn't in the papers, no one knows him.” Then adds: “But that's not how I define success. I want my music to bring joy to people. I enjoy the fact that I get paid to sing, something I am passionate about anyway.”