MUMBAI: Born in New Delhi brought up in Toronto, Canada, Jonita Gandhi has been hitting all the right notes ever since her explosive debut in Bollywood. With an actively increasing repertoire of Bollywood hits under her belt, Jonita has been cementing her position as a well-recognised voice in the industry. ‘The Breakup song’ queen had a little chat with Radioandmusic.com.

“Music was always a hobby. I was trained in western classical music as a kid but I was always around a lot of Hindi music so I developed a taste for it. Also, I would practice singing Bollywood classics so I slowly got a hang of it,” said the singer.

Jonita’s earlier days were spent gigging in Toronto where she was known to be the next upcoming singer. “I never thought I’d end up becoming an established singer, it was just something that made me feel good hence I would sometimes skip my theory classes. I would just appear for my practical singing examinations so they did not give me my certificate,” laughed the ever so bubbly Jonita.

Jonita’s claim to fame was her debut tour with Sonu Nigam in North America. She got selected in a contest on Facebook that was looking for singers to pay tribute to the King of Pop none other than Michael Jackson. “I was a late entry. They had already selected the contestants but one of them could not make it. So, I was selected to replace her. I got really lucky,” confesses ‘The Breakup Song’ singer.

Jonita’s Bollywood debut was the title track of ‘Chennai Express’ where she worked with Vishal-Sekhar. The singer has been belting out hits ever since with songs like ‘Gilehriyaan’ from ‘Dangal’ and ‘Pink Anthem’ from the movie Pink and of course ‘The Breakup Song’ from ‘Ae Dil Hain Mushkil.’

The singer is an ardent RnB fan and loves listening to Beyonce, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera, in fact, her cover of ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele shows her heavy RnB influences. Jonita had pretty much become an amateur celebrity with her YouTube channel with over 80,000 subscribers on her channel. “I had started off by putting up basic videos of me just singing, recorded on a phone camera and the response was really good so I decided to put up more professional videos. Then one day I stumbled upon Aakash’s (Gandhi) YouTube channel which I found supremely impressive. I decided to connect with him on Skype and we have been working together ever since.”

Jonita has no plans of letting go of her YouTube channel despite her commercial success. “That’s where I started from and I want to continue uploading my work and keep my channel busy.”

Jonita also has a band that has performed all over the country. They are known for mashing up English numbers with Bollywood hits. “I want my audience to listen to my influences as well. I squeeze in a Stevie Wonder or an Adele on my setlist sometimes.”

Jonita who bagged three trophies at the Mirchi Music awards also performs at wedding ceremonies. “They are always a whole lot of fun because it’s a small bunch of people who just want to hear you sing.”