StePhEn DeVasSy....

Name: Stephen Devassy

Date of birth:23 Feb 1981

Family : Father: P.K. Devassy, Mother: Susy Devassy, Sister: Biju Solomon, Brother: Samuel Devassy

Hobbies: Listening to music; sleeping

Awards: Trinity College’s Highest Scorer award
Stephen lives, dreams and breathes music. Music is Stephen Devassy's love and profession. "I was never academically inclined. Since I was always into music, I thought, why not make a career of it," says this 29-year-old from Ottappalam, Palakkad who is gaining recognition in the music industry. He is now settled in Chennai. Stephen Devassy, whose passion is music, composes, sets tunes and arranges music. He scored the music for the 2004 Malayalam movie - `Hariharan Pillai Happy Aanu,' starring Mohanlal.Stephen Devassy who plays the piano has done eight grades in music from the Trinity College of Music, London and was the best scorer in Asia whose record is yet to be bettered. He started learning the piano at age 10 and entered the world of music, under the guidance of Leslie Peter who was his first guru. He learnt the organ and then was introduced to the piano by Fr. Thomas at Chetana Music Academy in Thrissur where he completed his Eighth Grade examination conducted by the Trinity College of Music, London. "Fr. Thomas was a real slave driver, he also taught me the perfection and discipline needed for a pianist," says Stephen.His first chance to play for Hariharan on his tour of Europe was a big experience, says Stephen. "My mind opened up. I began seeing good musicians and it made me learn my western classical music better. It was a fusion of ghazals and Western music. I went as an accompanying artiste to play the keyboard. As it was concentrating mainly on ghazals, all the other artistes were from Mumbai. I was the only South Indian. I still join him on his tours," he says. " Explaining his work on the keyboard, he says it is primarily about arranging several types of music. "This enriches and fills up the space in a song." With some hard work and luck, he got a programming keyboard. "Going with Hariji to the U.S., Canada, Paris, Germany, Belgium, Rome, South Africa, Middle East was a great experience. I thought of some solo performances -- contemporary yet inspired by classics," says this shy youngster. In his teens, instead of hanging out at hot spots, Stephen was busy working with Colonial Cousins and then, with the musical wizard, A.R.Rahman. The rest, as they say, is history. "It's all thanks to my family who gives me full support," says the music prodigy."Fusion is the trend in music today. Bringing together the Western and the Eastern style of music. Merging them to contrive a new style in music. I play the Indian musical style which appears to be Western," remarks Devassy. Yanni, the Greek musician and Michael W. Smith inspire Stephen, who loves Mozart’s Symphony, in musical compositions.He is one of the regular band members in a band called Rex Band, a Christian contemporary band singing gospel fusion and pretty soon, he says, " I got the opportunity to sing before Pope John Paul II. It was at an event bands from all over the world were present and we were the only one from India. It was a very thrilling experience." Stephen, who is the pianist of Rex Band, has orchestrated an instrumental version of the popular Rex Band melodies called ‘Different Vibes’.In association with Kosmic Music, Stephen has also set to tune to a background of western music, Sanskrit slokas, mantras and verses from the Upanishads, called `Sacred Chants of Kosmic Music,' and albums of holy chants on Ganesha, Shiva and Vishnu.He has also accompanied violin maestro L. Subramanian at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival. "It was a fusion with the London Symphony Orchestra. I was given an opportunity to arrange three of the songs sung by Kavitha Krishnamoorthy for the concert for the London Symphony. It was a great exposure," he says.