Artist

Multilingual singer-songwriter Benny Dayal’s exuberant way with pop, funk and R&B makes him one of the most important voices in mainstream Indian music. Hailing from a Kerala family but raised in Abu Dhabi, Dayal initially trained as a Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam dancer and sang Christian songs in his teens. He eventually made it into S5, a pop group put together via a reality TV show. One album later, the group went their separate ways and he hopped into Rainbow Bridge, a rock band founded by Chennai-based Sanjeev Thomas. Dayal had already begun singing Tamil film songs by this point, starting with the Sujatha and Karthik collab “Maya Maya” for 2002’s Baba, and had a breakthrough with A.R. Rahman’s soundtrack for Sakkarakatti in 2008. By then, Dayal was already part Bollywood, adding his mercurial personality to songs like “Pappu Can’t Dance” from Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. His energy became irrepressible starting with “Badtameez Dil”, from Pritam’s music for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani in 2013. In the time since, he’s helmed plenty more dance-floor-friendly anthems, from “Disco Disco” to “Let’s Nacho” and “Daru Desi”, and teamed up with legendary composers like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.