A. R. Rahman was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to a musically affluent Mudaliar Tamil family.^[10] His father R. K. Shekhar, was a film music composer and conductor for films in Malayalam language. Rahman used to assist his father during recordings and play keyboard for the songs. Rahman lost his father at the age of 9 and his family had to rent out his father's musical equipment as their source of income.^[11] Rahman was raised by his mother Kareema (born Kashturi).^[12] During these formative years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots", with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja.^[3] Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue".^[13] He mastered various music instruments like Keyboard, Piano, Synthesizer, Harmonium and Guitar. His curiosity in Synthesizer in particular, increased because, he says, it was the "ideal combination of music and technology".
He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj.^[14][15] From the age of 11, he started playing musical instruments in the orchestra of Malayalam composer and a close friend of Rahman's father, M.K.Arjunan.^[16] Soon he started working with other composers such as M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Ramesh Naidu, Raj-Koti^[15] and also accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship with Trinity College, London, board of the Trinity College of Music.^[12] Studying in Chennai, he graduated with graded examinations and a diploma in Western classical music via the college.^[17] He was introduced to Qadiri Islam when his younger sister fell severely sick in 1984. Subsequently, Rahman along with other members of his family converted to Islam in 1989, when he was 23 years old. He changed his name from A. S. Dileep Kumar to A. R. Rahman or Allah Rakha Rahman