Venkatesh Kumar

[2][3] Kumar's late father Huleppa was a Janapada folk singer and leather puppeteer.

In 1968, when he was 15 years old, Venkatesh was taken by his mothers brother, father in law Nadoja Belagallu Veeranna to the Veereshwara Punyashrama in Gadag, run by the Veerashaiva saint and Hindustani musician Puttaraj Gawai.

For the next 12 years, he lived at the ashram and learned Hindustani singing in the Gwalior and Kirana styles under Gawai.

[2] Kumar got his first break in 1993, 14 years after he left the ashram, when he received an invitation from Bhimsen Joshi to perform at the Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav in Pune.

Kumar began his teaching career at Vijay Mahantesh Arts College near Gadag, where he taught for one-and-a-half years.