Shweta Subram

Early years

Shweta was born in Dubai, UAE and moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada during her teenage years. She graduated from Merivale High School and obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from Carleton University. Though singing started off as a hobby for Shweta, her talent was constantly appreciated through multiple awards and accolades in Dubai and Canada, and made way to a full time pursuit of music.

Music career

After winning the North American Best Singer award from Sangam Kala Group, Shweta spent some time in India and was chosen by Zoom (TV channel) to join the Sunsilk Gang of Girls. After touring across India with the band, Shweta wanted to embark on her own musical journey.

2011–14: Independent music and covers

Following her stint in India, Shweta returned to Canada in order to focus on independent music. Her debut single, Jee Le Live Life was followed up with Ajooba and these releases brought her in the urban music limelight in North America. Shweta was then contacted by Shankar Tucker to feature in his project. Mere Saajan Sun Sun, which had a phenomenal response and exposed Shweta's talent to a larger audience. Shweta was then contacted by music composer Pravin Mani of A.R. Rahman fame who worked with her on the single Piya featuring the playback singer Karthik. Shweta's biggest break in North America came when she was chosen by The Piano Guys to the render an Indian adaptation of Swedish House Mafia's Don't You Worry Child.

In addition to originals, Shweta has also rendered covers of popular Bollywood songs, including Heer, Saadi Galli Aaja, and Mitti Di Khushboo. Backed by the A.R. Rahman's, Shekhar Kapur's, and Samir Bangara's digital music start-up, Qyuki, Shweta released Bollywood Evolution, which presented a medley of Bollywood songs from 1950s in five minutes in acapella style. This release was picked up by various Indian and international news portals including BuzzFeed and The Times of India.

2015: Bollywood playback

Shweta's debut in Bollywood came through the movie Hawaizaada starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Sharda. Shweta sang the title song, Dil-e-Nadaan, alongside Ayushmann Khurrana, who is also the music composer for the movie.

2016–2017

In December 2016 Shweta started "Shwetapella", a series of acapella covers of popular songs. As of July 2017, she has released six videos covering Papon - Moh Moh Ke Dhaage, Armaan Malik - Bol Do Na Zara, Arijit Singh - Bolna, Sonu Nigam - Abhi Mujh Me Kahin, Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal's Samjhawan, and Lata Mangeshkar's Naino Mein Badra Chhaye from the movie Mera Saaya.

Shweta sang three songs for Mostly Sunny, a biography of Sunny Leone by director Dilip Mehta. She also had a playback debut in Mayavan, a Tamil movie, with a song called Mella Mella with music director Ghibran.

In July 2017, Shweta featured in a cover of Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin by Parineeti Chopra from the movie Meri Pyaari Bindu. Chopra took notice of the cover and tweeted that she was "speechless" and the song "made me cry".

Live performances

Shweta is known to be a rockstar performer. Her set typically includes of popular and upbeat Bollywood songs along with evergreen classics. She has headlined various festivals and concerts in North America, Middle-East, the Caribbean, and Asia. In April 2015, she was invited to sing national anthems of Canada and India to open floor for speeches by Indian PM Modi and Canadian PM harper. She also headlined the IIFA Buzz (2011) festival in Markham, Ontario and The IIFA Rocks segment was aired globally by STAR (India) to a total audience of 700 million. Shweta sang the song Khuda Ke Liye with Salim-Sulaiman from the film Aazaan

Radio

From 2009-2010 Shweta hosted the Drive Home show on HumDesi Radio, the largest radio station in North America. Prior to this she was the host and reporter of the television program "Sounds of India" on Rogers Channel 22 in Canada, and RJ for CKCU 97.9 FM (CHIN FM).

Television