Dr Shobana Vignesh is an Indian classical and devotional vocalist and a former actor. She is known as 'Mahanadhi' Shobana from her role in the film Mahanadhi.
Shobhana was born in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu to N. Kumar and Revathi Kumar and raised in Chennai. Her maternal family has worked to preserve the Bhagavata Mela tradition in the Village of Tepperumalnallur in Tamil Nadu.
Shobhana attended the Padma Seshadri School in Chennai.
Shobhana started training in Carnatic music at a very young age. She has been trained by Sri. P.S. Narayanaswamy, Prof. T.R. Subramaniam and Sri. Swamimalai Janakiraman.
Shobhana regularly performs during the Chennai December music season at concerts and on television. She regularly performs at ‘Narada Gana Sabha’, ‘Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’, ‘Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha’, ‘Bharat Kalachar’, ‘Chennayil Thiruvayaru’, and ‘Margazhi Mahotsavam,’ she makes an annual pilgrimage to Saint Thyaragaraja's Samadhi at Thiruvaiyaru and participates in the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival.
Shobhana has performed throughout India, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. She is often featured by leading Television channels in India and other countries and has been performing concerts for the past two decades.
Shobhana made her recording debut in ‘Mahanadhi.’ She released her first solo album at age 12 and has since then released more than 150 albums ranging over 1,500 songs by the time she became a teenager.
Shobhana has recorded albums in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, Braj, Marathi, Hindi, English and Baduga. She was nominated for the Global Indian Music Awards, Mumbai in 2010 for her album, ‘Shobana Live in Concert – Bharat Kalachar’.
Shobhana has sung in movies including Mahanadhi (Tamil), Mahanadhi (Telugu), Aravindan, Punniyavathi, Kannedhire Thondrinaal, Azhagana Natgal, and Kanave Kalaiyadhe.