Mali (Singer) Wiki, Age, Boyfriend, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Mali aka Maalavika Manoj is an Indian singer, songwriter, and composer, who is famous as a pop artist. She collaborated with big names like A. R. Rahman, Sofia Ashraf, and many others. Having many singles and a few albums under her name, Mali, in the English music genre, is a well-known Indian name.

Wiki/Biography

Mali was born on Wednesday, 15 September 1993 (age 30 years; as of 2023) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Her zodiac sign is Virgo. She grew up in a Tamil society and was nicknamed Mali.

Mali pursued her schooling at Lady Andal School (1997-2001), and Sacred Heart Matriculation School (2001-2010), Kayyunni, Tamil Nadu. She enrolled in Loyola College, Chennai, where she pursued a BBA. As part of this, she went to the IÉSEG School of Management in France for a year (in the middle of 2013) and received a specialization degree in Business Administration/Management from there. After France, she returned to Chennai and received her graduation degree from Loyola College. Following this, Mali migrated to Mumbai with the hope of trying music as a profession.

Mali’s parents were ardent music listeners. They would listen to the songs of the 1970s and 1980s, which made her fall in love with music. Her family get-togethers usually involved singing songs together, where her grandfather would play harmonica. He also introduced jazz music to her.

Later, Mali listened to a lot of electronic music. When she was 5 years old, her parents enrolled her in different art classes like Bharatanatyam, drawing, swimming, and piano classes; however, she stuck to the piano classes, leaving the others. Mali began writing and composing music when she was 16 years old. After 17 years, Mali enrolled in a guitar class.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 1″

Weight (approx.): 50 kg

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Mali comes from a Malayali family from North Malabar.

Parents & Siblings

Mali’s father’s name is M. C. Manoj, and her mother’s name is Asha Meenakshi Manoj.

Mali has a brother. His name is Karthik Manoj.

Husband & Children

Mali is unmarried and has no children.

Other Relatives

Her paternal grandfather, M. C. Rammohan, played the harmonica and harmonetta in a band called Black and White in 1950s Chennai. He is no more.

Relationships/Affairs

Mali was in a relationship till 2020 about which she also released a song titled ‘Ashes.’ Talking about the track, she says,

The song is about a very difficult breakup I went through two years ago. After it happened, there was a period of time where we refrained from speaking to each other so we could heal… It was during this time I felt an immense connection with my ex because it felt as if we were both sharing an experience except that we were apart. The song is really an open letter to him, asking how it’s going and explaining how things are on my side.”

Signature/Autograph

Career

Singer and Songwriter

Mali’s songs are a mixture of the 60s and 70s iconic pop acts (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, etc.) and 80s-era onwards indie and electro-pop stylings. Her music career started when she formed ‘Bass-in-Bridge’ for a Chennai Live’s band hunt competition that was sponsored by the Chennai radio station. Mali, as vocalist in the band, became famous when Bass-in-Bridge came in the finalist list of the competition. After performing at various bars, events, and festivals, the band dissolved in 2011.

In 2012, Mali’s debut film song, “Come On Girls,” composed by Anirudh Ravichander, was released. She was featured in a few songs and performed at various places until she released her debut album, ‘Deceptive’ (6 songs by Band-in-Bridge), in 2013. It was now that she chose her stage name as ‘Mali.

From 2012 to 2016, she sang some Tamil film songs and remained a live performer for famous bands and launch events until she released her single titled ‘Dreaming.’ This song was later added to her 5 song EP titled ‘Rush.’ A duet single, ‘Onnume Aagala’ between Mali and Anirudh Ravichander, was released on YouTube by Sony Music India in 2017. The song ‘Play’ was released in 2018, featuring his grandfather playing the harmonica.

In 2022, Mali’s debut Bollywood film song, ‘Mange Manzooriyan,’ for the movie ‘Badhaai Ho,’ was released.

In 2023, she performed at the Lollapalooza India festival in Mumbai.

Mali was also a performer at the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in 2023.

In 2023, Mali was selected to represent Apple Music India, where she showed her music-making process to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was on a visit to India.

Discography of Mali

Singles

• Dreaming (2017)

• Poor Girl’s Dreams (2017)

• Changed Situations (2017)

• Rush (2017)

• Sooner or Later (2017)

• Play (2018)

• Mango Showers (2019)

• Mundane (2020)

• Absolute (2020)

• Age of Limbo (2020)

• Horoscope (2020)

• Really? Not Really (2020)

• Live Again (2021)

• Cabaret (2021)

• Sitting on the Fence (2021)

• Semi Automatic Butane (2023)

• Walk Away (2023)

• Never Gonna Give You Up (2023)

• Absolute (Apple Music Home Session) (2023)

• Mundane (Apple Music Home Session) (2023)

• Ashes (2023)

Albums

• Deceptive (Band-in-Bridge) (2013)

• Rush (2017)

• Caution To The Wing (2020-2021)

• Apple Music Home Session: Mali (2023)

Film Songs

• Come On Girls (2011)

• Yeda Kuda

• Vaazhkaiye (2012)

• Yaen Endral (2013)

• Hi My Name Is Malini (2013)

• Irumugan Settai (2016)

• He’s My Hero (2016)

• Onnume Aagale (2017)

• Surviva (2017)

• Peela Peela (2018)

• Dei Machan Dev (2019)

• Mange Manzooriyan (Female) (2020)

• You and Me (2023)

 Achievements

• The title track of EP ‘Rush’ was ranked second in Rolling Stone India’s list of “10 Best Indian Singles of 2017.”

• The song ‘Mundane’ ranked as No.1 in the Euro Indie Music Chart in 2020.
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about ‘Mundane’ topping the Euro Indie Music Chart

• First Indian artist to be selected for Spotify Worlwide’s RADAR programme (2020)

• Featured on BBC World News along with American singer-songwriter Erin Rae
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about her first presence at BBC World News

• Featured in Forbes ’30 Under 30′ list (2021)

• Featured on the cover of ‘Harper’s Bazaar India’ (2022)

• Nominated for the MTV Europe Music Awards (2023)

• Featured on the Indie India playlist cover by the Wynkmusic (2021)
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about being featured on the Wynkmusic’s Indie India playlist cover

Favourites

• Artists: Stone, Melua, Andrea Corr, Fitzgerald, Sara Bareilles, Courtney Barnett, Emily King

• Songs: Marry Me, Archie by Alvvays, At Last by Etta James

• Album: Rumours – Fleetwood Mac.

• Instruments: Guitar, Piano

• City: Santorini, Andamans

• Travel Destination: New York, Kerala

Facts/Trivia

• The first song that Mali sang was ‘500 Miles.’

• The first song that she composed was ‘No Place Like Home.’ She was 16 years old when she wrote it after feeling guilty about her words to her mother with whom she fought and told her that she’d be better off living far away from home and couldn’t wait for that day to come.

• Mali gave her first singing performance at the school assembly. When she was 12 years old, she performed at a party, where she sang Ella Fitzgerald’s “Fever” with an improvisation in lyrics to match the occasion of the party.

• She always took music as a hobby. After completing her graduation, she gave herself six months to try music professionally, and it worked.

• She has been a performer at the Bacardi Nh7 Weekender and Wembley in London.
  

  Mali performing at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender

• Mali has experienced different types of jobs. In November 2012, she worked as a Sales Intern for a month at IBM India Private Limited in Chennai, and from November 2013 till December 2014, she worked as a Chief Evangelist at MELT Media Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.

• She established Mali Manoj Music in 2012 in Chennai. It is an independent music company for recording services, sessions vocals, and production.

• She is also a social media intern at Only Much Louder, which she joined in 2015.

• Mali is fond of tea.
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about her fondness for tea

• Her inspirational artists are Skrillex, Hillsong, A. R. Rahman, Alanis Morissette, Stevie Nicks, Joss Stone, Norah Jones, Katie Melua, The Carpenters, Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Bareilles, The Corrs, Savage Garden, Backstreet Boys, and ABBA.

• Mali performed at a music concert, “Thank You for the Music,” to honour the Swedish pop supergroup ABBA, which is also one of her favourites.

• Mali is a passionate traveller, foodie, and pet lover. She has many adopted cats (Dali, Ollie, Cheeto, and Mongo to name some) and dogs.
  

  Mali with her dogs

  

  Some of Mali’s adopted cats

• In an interview, Mali said that the favourite stage she’d performed on is The Wembley Arena (SSE arena), she would love to collaborate with artist Phoebe Bridgers, and the music festival she’d like to play at is Glastonbury.

• Her grandfather was a strong influence in her life and he was her best critic. She would always ask for his opinion on her songs.
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about her grandfather

• She defines ‘overthinking’ as one of her weaknesses and strengths. Her compositions are inspired by the changes in her life, like “moving to a new place” or “going through a breakup.” In an interview, she said,
  

  …her real inspiration to write music comes from situations or feelings that really strike a chord deep inside me.”

• Mali follows a non-vegetarian diet.
  

  Mali’s Instagram post about non-veg food

• Mali consumes alcohol and is often seen posting about it on social media.
  

  Mali with a glass of wine

• Mali is also a podcast producer at Indus Vox Media since January 2016. She has produced podcast shows such as Cyrus Says, Maed In India, Watcha!, Tall Tales, and The Paodcast.

• Mali is well-versed in English, Tamil, and French languages.