AccuRadio Song Of The Day-A.R. Rahman

Artist:A.R. Rahman f/The Pussycat Dolls

Album:Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)

Album:Now: The Very Best of Dance

A.R. Rahman is famous in his native India. Here in North America, he is mainly known for his music from Danny Boyle's 2009 film Slumdog Millionaire. A remix of the closing theme from the film featuring The Pussycat Dolls was a top 20 hit. He was born A.S. Dileep Kumar Jan.6, 1967 in Madras, India. His father was a film composer. Rahman studied piano as a child and as a teen he studied with other film composers. He started composing for films in the 80s. He's been very successful in India. Boyle says he chose Rahman to compose the music for Slumdog Millionaire because Rahman draws on all kinds of music including hip hop and R&B. The score and the song Jai Ho both won Oscars. After watching the film, Interscope Records execs Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair wanted to turn Jai Ho into a pop song. At the time, The Pussycat Dolls latest EP Doll Domination was tanking. So they thought using them in a remix of Jai Ho would help. Fair and Iovine asked Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger to write English lyrics. But they hired several songwriters to work on the song and used bits and pieces from all of them. There are nine credited songwriters not including Rahman. Fair produced the record which is called The RF Remix. The video recreates the closing scenes in Slumdog Millionaire. The single reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jai Ho was released only on an EP. It was never on a Pussycat Dolls album or the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. But you can get it on this various artists budget CD. After Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman returned to Indian films. So I guess it was an interesting sidetrip for him. Here's the video for Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny) by A.H. Rahman featuring The Pussycat Dolls.