She studied piano and voice from her early teens and also sang in the Singapore Youth Choir where she met her future collaborator, Dick Lee.
Growing up, Abisheganaden listened to a wide variety of music, not only vocal jazz and traditional pop but also artists who ranged from Stevie Wonder to Joni Mitchell to South African singer Miriam Makeba.
[1] Abisheganaden was educated at Marymount Convent School, Raffles Institution and the National University of Singapore, where she graduated with an honours degree in English.
She continued this winning streak in 1981, when she nabbed the Best Female Performer award for her role as Nurse Angamuthu in General Hospital at the Drama Festival.
"[6] In the same year, Abisheganaden acted in the Experimental Theatre Club's production of Susan's Party, directed by Lim Siauw Chong, for the Drama Festival.
[8] In 1985, Abisheganaden returned from the States temporarily (where she moved with her husband) to act in TheatreWorks' Love and Belacan, three playlets co-starring Lim Kay Tong.
[14] In the same year, she acted in TheatreWorks' Mixed Signals, a three-act comedy written by Michael Chiang, and Jackson on a Jaunt by Eleanor Wong, staged as part of the double bill Safe Sex.
[18] In 1991, Abisheganaden acted in Eric Khoo's short film August as an adulterous wife and released her third album Dramamama on Japan's Wave Records.
In 1992, Abisheganaden starred in Dick Lee's first Asian operetta, Nagaland, which performed to full houses in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In 2012, Abisheganaden returned to the stage after 13 years, playing herself in Ong Keng Sen's National Broadway Company, a musical commissioned for the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay's 10th anniversary.