Sayyed Hesham Abdul Wahab was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Born in a family of musicians,[6] he took interest in music at a very young age and got professional training in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music. He started singing at the early age of 8 and was introduced to piano when he was 11.
Hesham left Saudi Arabia to go to India in 2007 to be part of the music reality show Idea Star Singer[8] which paved the way for his foray into playback singing and later composing.
Recording career
Wahab's first recording project was in 2013 with his first single Meri Dua[9] produced by Offline Creations. He got his first major break when Andante Records signed him for their record label. His first album Qadam Badha(Step Forward),[10] an amalgamation of Sufi music and World Music produced by eminent Iran born British singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf was released in 2015.
Music composing
Wahab forayed into Malayalam film industry as a music director in 2013 year with the film Salt Mango Tree.[11] His debut as a music composer for the Bollywood film[12]Mera India is set to release in 2019. He has also worked with several noted composers and lent his voice to many Indian films. In 2018, his song Jaana Meri Janaa from the film Cappuccino fetched Vineeth Sreenivasan his second SIIMA Award for the Best Playback Singer in Malayalam.[13]
In 2018, Wahab founded LIVEwithMUSIC, an independent music academy where he takes classes on sound production.[14] Hesham arranged and mixed filmmaker Alphonse Puthren's debut composition Kathakal Chollidaam which was released as a music video featuring several Malayalam film actors and their children. He composed the soundtrack of Vineeth Sreenivasan's film Hridayam, which consists of 15 songs.[15] He has since composed music for other Malayalam films, including Madhura Manohara Moham (2023), and Sesham Mike-il Fathima (2023).
Wahab made his Telugu composing debut with the romantic comedy Kushi (2023) and went on to compose music for the Telugu romance films Hi Nanna (2023) and Manamey (2024).
Discography
All films are in Malayalam, unless otherwise noted.
