Rajiv Dhall (born 1992; Cincinnati, Ohio) is an Indian American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. On December 18, 2010, he started uploading videos to his YouTube channel "TwentyForSeven" which had over 1,000,000 subscribers and over 120 million views.[1]

Rajiv Dhall
ਰਾਜੀਵ ਢੱਲ, राजीव ढल
Birth nameRajiv Dhall
Born1992
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, musician, producer
Years active2011–present

Biography

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Rajiv Dhall was born the son of Punjabi Indian-origin father and Caucasian mother. He attended Plymouth-Canton Educational Park. While Dhall was in high school, he and his friends formed the emo-pop outfit TwentyForSeven (consisting of Dhall, (vocals/guitar), Matt Pastor (bass/keys/vocals), Blake Hayes (guitar/vocals), Tony Bastianelli (Synth/Programming) and Corey DeLuca (drums)[2]) and spent several years fronting the band with some success.

Career

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His band appeared on E's, Opening Act competition in 2012 and as a surprise, they got a chance to be the opening act for Gym Class Heroes.[3]

He later started uploading solo cover songs to YouTube which eventually gave him a large online following. In 2015, he released his version of the One Direction song "Just Can't Let Her Go", which entered the Top 200 of the iTunes songs chart.[4]

After his success on YouTube, his friend Andrew Bazzi introduced him to Vine,[5] a short-form video sharing service where users can share six-second-long looping video clips. He was nominated for "Best Vine Musician" in the Seventh Annual Shorty Awards, losing out to Shawn Mendes.[6] He was also nominated for the 2015 MTV Woodie Awards.[7]

In 2016, he was nominated for the 2016 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards in the "Fan Fave Vine Musician" category and he won.[8]

He also made videos showcasing the top songs of 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Awards and nominations

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Year Ceremony Award Nominated Result
2015 7th Annual Shorty Awards[9] Vine Musician Rajiv Dhall Nominated
2016 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards[8] Fan Fave Vine Musician Rajiv Dhall Won

References

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  1. ^ "Rajiv Dhall". Rajiv Dhall – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "Free Music Downloads: Pop Singles". PPcorn. May 13, 2016. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  3. ^ La Rosa, Erin (July 17, 2012). "Opening Act Recap: TwentyForSeven Opens for Gym Class Heroes on Opening Act". E! News. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  4. ^ Collar, Matt. "Rajiv Dhall – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  5. ^ "Rajiv Dhall". Shorty Awards. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  6. ^ "Vine Musician in Social Media". Shorty Awards. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  7. ^ Hernandez, Brian Anthony (March 16, 2015). "MTV launches social category to honor indie artists for SXSW's Woodie Awards". Mashable. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Jane. "Fifth Harmony, Drake big winners at MMVAs". Toronto Sun. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  9. ^ "7th Annual Shorty Award Winners". Shorty Awards. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
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