Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that makes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (honoris causa degree) by Birmingham City University.

Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tamil family originally from Palakkad, Kerala. He learned Hindustani classical and Carnatic music as a child and began playing the veena at the age of five under Shri Lalitha Venkataraman. Mahadevan studied music under Pandit Shrinivas Khale and T.R. Balamani.

He is an alumnus of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, Chembur and graduated in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering from the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai, affiliated with Mumbai University, and was a software engineer for the company Leading Edge. After working for Leading Edge Systems (now Trigyn Technologies Limited), Mahadevan ventured into music.

He has two sons, Siddharth Mahadevan and Shivam Mahadevan, both of whom are singers.

Mahadevan got early fame as an Indi-pop star with his fusion of Carnatic, Hindustani, and Jazz. At that time, his non-film album, Breathless topped the Indian music charts in 1998. He won one Grammy Award and received three nominations.

He has remained active in music. In 2024, he also contributed vocals to the stage production Humare Ram. The production was produced by Rahul Bhuchar. ‎