Kumar was born and grew up in Mumbai, where his parents' upbringing and eclectic tastes—his father spoke Kannada, his mother Telugu—exposed him to a broad range of sounds—everything from rock 'n' roll and pop to the more traditional sounds of Bollywood film scores and Indian classical music.

[6] He moved to the US in 1998 to study computer science, initially in Oklahoma City and then at San Jose State University in Silicon Valley.

Titled "Ajeeb Daastaan Hei Yah (This Is a Strange Tale)", it appears as the final track of his first album, Don't Hold Back, which was released in 2014.

[1] Kumar released his third album, Hindi Man Blues, in 2018, and his fourth, Dilruba, on Sony Music India in 2020,[10][11] and a single, Zindagi, on Little Village in 2021.

[12] Kumar mainly performs around the San Francisco Bay Area with his quartet, hosts blues jams, and works as a session musician.