Lilajee

Lilajee (2018)

**Lilavati Shakuntala Ranjana Chatterjee** (born July 23, 1979) known by her stage name **Lilajee** - is a British singer, record producer and activist.

## Biography

### Early Life

Lilavati Shakuntala Ranjana Chatterjee was born on July 23, 1979 in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children and only daughter born to an Indian family of Bengali ancestry. Her father, Gautam Chatterjee (born March 4, 1950), was born in Kolkata, and moved to Scotland with his parents and brother when he was two, he later got job as a cashier in bookstore in his teenage years, and later became surgeon. Her mother, Karishma Kumari (born December 1, 1950), was born in Dundee to an Indian parents from Berhampore, and later started working as a legal secretary. Her parents met during Ganesh Chaturthi in September 1968. She has four brothers, Akash (born February 8, 1970), Rajesh (born May 5, 1972), Vimal (born September 15, 1974) and Jayesh (born November 18, 1975). She was nicknamed ''Lila'' from in her early childhood. She and her brothers grew up learning Hindi, Bengali and English. When she was four, her family decided to live in London, where they lived in a three-story house in suburbs. She attended Mulberry School for Girls. In her childhood, she was taking piano lessons, which she decided to attend by herself and later when she got interested in dancing, she also asked her parents to enroll her into ballet lessons. She started writing and composing songs when she was only nine. She described herself as an introvert stating, ''I always prefered to be silent and be just with me, because I can focus then and for example write new songs.'' Chatterjee in childhood was taking part in Ganesh Chaturthi and was raised in Hinduism.

### Career

In May 2003, Chatterjee created a band Holi with her two Indian English friends, Nisha and Sita. They named band Holi after Indian celebration of the same name. Band's first EP, *Musical Symphony*, was released on January 2, 2004. In May same year, they went to a British X Factor, where they succesfully got to the final and placed second. After programme, band decided to split up, but members still were friends. In March 2006, she signed with AIR studios. She released her first solo single, ''Coin'', on June 28, 2006. After her first single was released, she announced that she is working on album entitled *Ethnic + England*, which premiered on March 4, 2007, album was very succesful in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Australia and New Zealand. She had her first tour with album, from June 19, 2007 to October 16, 2007, during tour, she has visited all of the above countries and also India. In May 2008, it was announced that she will be a jury in a new created British programme, *Sing Dreams*. She was working on her second album at the time, but has left work on it to focus on a programme. She stayed as a jury to January 2012, during this time, she has released several singles and has made some collaborations on songs with well-known artists. She released her second album, *Everything I Want*, on December 6, 2012. In March 2014, she opened her own recording studio, Lilavati Studios with headquarters in London. On May 18, 2015, she has released a song, ''I'm Just An Indian Girl'', the song is currently her most popular and most recognized one. Stating about genres which she is making in an interview she said, ''I'm mixing pop, R&B and blues.'' She has released her third album, *New Delhi*, on June 5, 2017. She has released her fourth album, *Summer*, on July 5, 2020. Since August 2020, she is a jury in The Voice UK. Chatterjee is an activist for women, animals and against racism.

### Personal Life

She has a daughter, Amala Lalita Indiiah (born August 25, 2008), from her relationship with an Indian-born English lawyer Sankar Saha, their relationship lasted from May 2001 to December 2013. From March 2015 to July 2017, she was dating Paolo Ferro-Cappeli, with whom she reunited in June 2019. She resides in London.