The NYC-based singer is a part of a 10-member group.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Just months after Juhi Pathak made a splash on “The Voice,” another Indian American girl is making a splash on the hit NBC talent show “The Sing-off.”
Manjula Raman is part of a ten-woman singing group called Element, which is one of just 10 a capella groups competing on the show.
On Monday night, the fourth season of “The Sing-Off” premiered on NBC. Raman and her nine teammates sang “Burn,” the hit song by British singer Ellie Goulding, and wowed the audience, judges Jewel, Bend Folds and Shawn Stockman, and host Nick Lachey – himself a member of a group, 90s boy band 98 Degrees.
Based in New York City, Raman and the rest of Element all aspire to be in show business, and moved to New York in order to make that dream a reality. To make ends meet, Raman is an editorial assistant, according to her Twitter profile. Raman describes herself as someone who loves “coffee, music, stories [and] dance,” and “hates onions.”
Raman and Element have been together for only a few months, but they’ve already made it to a very large stage, gaining national recognition on the hit TV show. All the girls had individually sung before, but only came together recently. Raman, in addition to singing, also learned classical dance, and has videos of herself performing at various cultural events on YouTube.
They are the only all-female act on “The Sing-Off” this season.
In addition to their work on the TV show, the group recorded and shot a music video for a Christmas-themed song, which can be heard here. The video below is an interview recorded for “The Sing-Off,” featuring Raman and two of her teammates discussing how Element came to be:
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com