Mumbai, Jan 15 : Singer Shilpa Rao, who is known for lending her voice to charbuster tracks like â€˜Javeda Zindagi, â€˜Khuda Jaane, â€˜Manmarziyaan and â€˜Bulleya among many others, recently completed 15 years in the music industry. She credits music composer Shankar Mahadevan of Shankarâ€“Ehsaanâ€“Loy for being by her side and guiding her through her journey.

"Shankar Mahadevan sir has helped me alot in my journey because he sat me down and said first you start recording for jingles that will give you your next step. He was the one person that really helped me when I first came to Mumbai and gave me my first break alongside Mithoon and Naresh ji (Mithoon's Father) for â€˜Anwar'," says Shilpa.

"From then, everyone from Vishal-Shekhar, Pritam, Rehman Sir, I mean the names are endless and there are so many people who have had that faith in me and given me that stage to be myself behind the mic and I am really very grateful for everything. I am grateful for their friendship and hope to put in some good work. I would like to thank all my fans. Without them it wouldn't be possible."

Recollecting her life in Jamshedpur, she says: "For 18 years of my life in Jamshedpur, I was a very quiet kid and it was like that I never existed and even in school I was pretty invisible. If I would be in there or not would never make a difference, but everything changed after I moved to Mumbai."

Expressing her gratitude to the 'Maximum City' and its people, the songstress shares: "I'm really thankful to Mumbai for shaping me into the person I am today, because it didn't matter what I was, where I was from and the only thing that mattered the most was how well I did my job. This city changed the way I looked at things and how I used to look at myself. It helped me remove all forms of conditioning and just focus and put in a lot of hard work on your craft and persistence. I want to thank every person who helped me in this journey of 15 years and many more years to come."

The singer does her 'riyaaz' regularly and urges aspiring musicians to do the same. "I have been practicing every single day and still learning music each day. I think these things really matter and this is why I tell the youth to learn music, to keep chasing music excellence and that is what will get them to glory."

"The only one promise I can make is that I will work harder to give you all the best music and I hope you all give me the same amount of love and support for all the work I am doing even after 15 years. So yeah! Looking forward to many more beautiful years in the industry," Shilpa concludes.

15 years on, Shilpa Rao thanks Shankar Mahadevan for her musical journey