Caralisa Monteiro

Some Lesser Known Facts About Caralisa Monteiro

• Caralisa Monteiro is an Indian playback singer. She is well-known for singing jingles for TV commercials and advertisements. She is also known as the ‘Jingle Queen of India.’ ^[9]YouTube – TEDx Talks

• After her mother passed away in 1986, her father left her and her sister in childhood and ran away.

  

• She has sung in multiple languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, French, and Punjabi; however, she is capable of speaking, reading, and writing in English, Italian, and French.

  

• She can play the piano, guitar, and other musical instruments.

  

• She began working as a jingle singer for TV commercials and advertisements in 1999. While studying in college, she used to take part in singing events at her college. Later, she sang her first jingle with music directors Loy Mendonsa and Ehsaan Noorani, which was for a coffee brand; she received 3000 rupees for recording the jingle. With the help of a friend, she auditioned for recording another jingle, which was conducted by Indian composer Leslie Lewis. Later, she worked exclusively with Leslie Lewis for more than two years and did more than 500 jingles with him. She has recorded more than 4000 jingles. She has also worked as a lyricist and composer for many jingles. She was the voice behind the jingle for the advertisement of Limca.

• In 2005, she sang the title track of the Bollywood film ‘Salaam Namaste.’ In 2007, she lent her voice to the song ‘Dard-E-Disco’ from the romantic drama film ‘Om Shanti Om.’ She recorded the song ‘Phir Dekhiye’ from the 2008 Bollywood film ‘Rock On!!.’ According to her, ‘Phir Dekhiye’ turned out to be a breakthrough song for her.

  

• In 2010, she sang the English lyrics of the song ‘Tumse Hi Tumse’ from the Bollywood film ‘Anjaana Anjaani.’ In 2012, she recorded the ballad song ‘All Alone’ from the Hindi horror film ‘Rise of the Zombie.’ She lent her voice to the song ‘Sha Sha Sha Mi Mi Mi’ from the 2015 Bollywood film ‘Shamitabh.’ In 2016, she recorded the song ‘Ranga Re’ from the Bollywood film ‘Fitoor.’ She recorded the song ‘Nashe Si Chadh Gayi’ from the Bollywood film ‘Befikre’ and also wrote the lyrics of the song in French. In 2022, she sang the song ‘Besharam Rang’ from the Bollywood film ‘Pathaan.’

  

• In an interview, she talked about how she learnt music at home and did not receive any musical training, She said,
  

  My father was considered the best bass opera singer in Asia. My mother was also a gifted natural singer and was fondly called the nightingale of Dadar. My sister was like Aretha Franklin, a big black mamma with tons of soul. There was always music around me while growing up — in school, at home and in church. There was music from all over the world being played at home, thanks to my father. I never received any training. I loved Whitney Houston growing up and would play her cassettes over and over and sing along at home. We did not have the greatest means back then and singing was one way of staying happy and expressing ourselves.” ^[10]The Times of India

• In 2004, she received an opportunity to sing an anthem for Infosys, an Indian multinational information technology company, when the company hit a billion-dollar revenue for the first time. ^[11]Instagram – Caralisa Monteiro

• In 2008, she took part in ‘Sutasi,’ an Asian talent hunt, and became one of the finalists.

• She has taken part in several marathons.

• In 2010, she was cast in a broadway show titled ‘Let The Music Play’ in Mumbai.

• In an interview, she revealed that she never walked out of a jingle recording; however, she never worked for condom commercials. She said,
  

  No, I have never quit. I don’t believe in quitting. But there are some things I don’t do out of principle, like ads for condoms. Condom advertisements portray women in bad light. Five years ago, I did an African condom advertisement and, unlike the ads which objectify women in low light (sic), this advertisement focused on creating AIDS awareness and hence I did it. I have no problem with ‘sexy’, like, say, the Aam Sutra ad, but I can’t do anything sleazy.” ^[12]HuffPost

• In 2007, she lent her voice to the song ‘You Have To Love Me’ from the English-language Indian film ‘The Great Indian Butterfly.’

• In 2010, she recorded the song ‘Yaaro Ivan Yaaro’ in the Italian language from the Tamil film ‘Porkkalam.’

  

• In 2013, at the finale of Harley Rock Riders: Season 4, she performed on stage with the Indian band Overhung. In 2014, she worked with the band and sang the song ‘Waste’ from the band’s EP ‘Extended 4Play.’

• In 2014, she performed at an event organised by the Genesis Foundation and Rolling Stone magazine India named ‘Rhythm and Blues Festival’ for raising funds for underprivileged children; the event was held in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh.

• In 2014, she completed a 182km marathon from Mumbai to Pune for raising awareness about cancer. ^[13]Caralisa Monteiro

• In 2015, the song ‘Angel in Disguise’ from her debut album ‘Illusion’ was dedicated to raising awareness for breast cancer and raising funds for helping patients battling cancer.

• In an interview, she revealed that one time she recorded a jingle at 3 am in the morning. She said,
  

  Well, there was one time when I was recording a jingle at 3 am and we were waiting for the film to come in. But the thing is once you’ve come in for the job, you can’t leave until it’s done. Then, I remember being made to give a lot of retakes, especially with Leslie. Sometimes there would be 9 or 10 retakes and the thing is, your voice just loses its feel after maybe two or three. So that would be quite stressful.” ^[14]HuffPost

• She and her husband, Ryan D’Souza, runs an NGO ‘Angel in Disguise’ dedicated to helping cancer patients and mistreated women and children.

• In an interview, she revealed that she found Marvel films more entertaining than DC films; however, she would like to become Wonder Woman, which is a superhero of DC.

• She regularly posts pictures and videos of her working out in the gym.

  

• She often consumes alcohol.