Meetu Chilana is a New York based singer, song-writer, actress, and producer. From sultry crooning to Indian riffing to pop belting, her voice carries a wide range of capabilities that stem from a history of various influences.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Meetu spent much of her childhood in many areas of the performing arts. On top of jazz, tap, and ballet classes, piano lessons, kirtan performances, and bhangra team practices outside of school, her academic life was filled with choirs, musicals, jazz band, playing the violin, flute, and handbells. Needless to say, she was constantly in front of an audience in one way or another.
Meetu is the eldest of four children born to first generation Punjabi Sikh parents, Gurmit and Bhupinder Chilana. The doctor and dentist couple are highly active in their community and fields, having leadership roles in various organizations and hospitals. They are also the reason Meetu grew up listening to old Punjabi folk songs and retro Bollywood tunes on repeat.
Meetu's own affinity to the sciences and early academic achievements gained her admission to the Academy for Medical Science Technology-- part of the regional magnet high school, Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, NJ. However, it was there that her love for the theater and music flourished and eventually led to her acceptance to NYU's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts.
She began her involvement in the entertainment industry early on in her university career, acting in commercials, hosting for American Desi TV Network, and acting in Desipina's signature short-play series "Seven.11 Convenience Theater" (2006/2007) in between classes. A minor in Producing opened further doors as an associate producer for an upcoming feature film starring Madhur Jaffrey, called "Hiding Divya."
It was for this film that Meetu recorded her first single, "Lost" which was released independently as a part of her debut EP, "I Am."
Shortly after, Meetu performed in "Jihad: The Musical" which received worldwide recognition at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007. She was also invited to share the stage with Indian Idol winner, Prashant Tamang, and Raghav at New York City's Jacob Javits Center that same year.
She then spent six months in Mumbai where she performed with the members of Kailash Kher's Kailasa, and celebrated Ustad Sultan Khan's birthday by performing with his son, Sabir Khan, at Mumbai's hottest new live music venue, Blue Frog. She was also recording tracks with lyricist Shabbir (known for Bollywood hit films such as Partner, Kya Love Story Hai) and Future Sounds of Bombay's Eric Pillai.
2009 has been an especially productive year for Meetu as she started off the year performing at Jazz @ Lincoln Center with Asha Puthli and Zila Khan (daughter of Vilayat Khan). Then while New York's famous radio station HOT 97 had the title song of her EP "I Am" in rotation, she was in London writing new songs with reputed producers Rishi Rich and Livingstone Brown (who has worked with artists such as Seal, Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean).
A student of jazz music for the past 10 years, on returning to the States, Meetu was asked to sing in D.D. Jackson's original jazz opera, Quebecite, and not too long after cast to sing for Cirque du Soleil's production of "Kooza."
Although the face of the music industry is rapidly changing, Meetu Chilana continues to create and collaborate. She performs a medley of jazz, blues and favorite songs regularly in New York's East Village with her trio. Aside from touring as a singer with Cirque du Soleil, she is currently working on original material for her next album.
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I'm a year older but none the wiser, I assure you. I love you. Hope you are having fun promoting the album and such. You are missed! I have a new cell phone number too! So when you get back, you can have that as well.
Hey!! i updated my profile this morning and finally added some videos and pics from this crazy ass party i went to on christmas eve, check it out you wont believe who got all wild when they were drunk LMAO!!!!
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