Raj Ramayya is a singer and musician, currently based in Japan.His family is from Central India, but he was born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada.His father wanted him to be a doctor, but he wanted to be a musician and it might have been that pressure from his family which caused him to move to Japan.
He is still trying to master the language after 9 years. There he obtained the chance of singing on a compilation CD by Fuji Pacific, and other offers followed.Ramayya was featured on the Captain Funk album Songs of the Siren (2000), and this brought the singer to the attention of Yoko Kanno, who subsequently used Ramayya on the soundtrack for the anime series Wolf's Rain, in the song Strangers.
"Her label actually tracked me down after they heard that CD," Ramayya told website Rakuen's Requiem in 2004. He currently is in a band called The Beautiful Losers, leaving his former moniker Shiva Blue on hiatus.
He also has a side project as a DJ under the name Bhang Lassi (which he started doing the soundtrack for his brother's documentary film) and released their first album Real Refresher on October 26, 2006.
Ramayya also does voice over and singing work for anime series and video games.Some of his most notable works include Shenmue 2, Resident Evil Dead Aim, Steel Batalion, Gungrave, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Bloody Roar 4, and also appeared in Beatmania IIDX, in collaboration with producer Tatsuya Furukawa (known by most fans as good-cool), as well as appearing on GuitarFreaks and Drummania with the song BOBBY SUE AND SKINNY JIM.
Some of his more notable works include the vocals for "Strangers" for Wolf's Rain, and the vocals of Ask DNA for Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door, as well as the lyrics for Cosmic Dare (Pretty With a Pistol), also of the same movie.
He's also done music for TV and Radio commercials in Japan, his most popular song is for Volvic water is a cover of the Thompson Twins song Hold Me Now.He also had a hand in finding the female musician who sang in the Tokyo Game Show trailer for Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
