Gauraa Shekhar was born in Delhi, India, but grew up on the fringe of Bollywood in Mumbai.
She spent her early years accompanying her father to television studios, reading comic books wrapped in dust-jackets of historical biographies. She has since, admittedly, been inclined to slight musical pretensions, not sure whether she likes Bob Dylan because of his music or because of his status as major poet loved by university professors and music writers.
She moved to Jakarta, Indonesia when she was eight years old, where she drummed in several pop-punk cover bands to drown her parents’ love for Bollywood hits and Springsteen songs. Her stint as musician ended in her first year of college, shortly after she sang in a Hunky Dory cover band, which she joined solely because the bassist looked like the guy from Seether.
Gauraa’s all-time, top 5 artists are Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Liz Phair and Big Star, but she will always have a ventricle reserved for Good Charlotte and My Chemical Romance. Her impossible musical bucket list includes Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and other songwriters who, as Nick Hornby once wrote, “have ever had an inkling of what Jesus felt on a bad day.”
She joined NYS Music a wide eyed freshman, her first month at Syracuse University, while studying in the Bandier Program for the Music and Entertainment Industries. Though she interned for several artist management firms, PR agencies, music publishing houses and record labels, she still considers her Valentine’s day themed interview with Aaron Carter for NYSMusic the highlight of her collegiate career. She currently divides her time between New York and Mumbai. She has released her first book, Notes. Pick up a copy here.
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