Shankar Mahadevan, the main vocalist of the trio, was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai,[4] in a Tamil family from Kerala.

Prior to going abroad to study further music at GIT (Los Angeles), Ehsaan was an integral part of two local bands in Mumbai, Pegasus and Crosswinds.

[12] Shankar Mahadevan, a software engineer, worked on Oracle Version Six and studied Western, Hindustani and Carnatic classical music.

Ehsaan Noorani studied music at the Musicians' Institute in Los Angeles and worked with the likes of Ronnie Desai, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and Louis Banks.

He performed with several group bands and plays (Godspell, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar) and composed jingles and signature tunes (Fauji, The World This Week).

Later, Ehsaan and Loy met Shankar when he was roped in by Ranjit Barot to sing for the Pepsi ad directed by Mukul Anand.

Their entry to mainstream cinema was with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir, which was a musical hit and earned the trio a place in the Bollywood film industry.

[15] The film won widespread critical acclaim and went on to attain cult status among audiences, and also earned them their first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

In 2006, they reteamed with Dharma Productions for Karan Johar's musical romantic drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.

The soundtrack and background score of the film received universal acclaim and became the second highest-selling Indian music album of the year.

They also composed the music of Ayan Mukherjee's debut film Wake Up Sid starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma along with Amit Trivedi.

The soundtrack blends western bar blues and techno sounds with Indian classical styles such as Sufi and Hindustani.

The track "Uff Teri Adaa" marked the debut of Loy's daughter Alyssa Mendonsa and became immensely popular.

[37] 2011 began with Nikhil Advani's Akshay Kumar-starrer Patiala House, which was well received by all mainstream critics, though the movie didn't quite get such an enthralling reception.

[40] Their major release of the year, Zoya Akhtar's multistarrer Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, was met with universal critical acclaim and opened well in the charts.

[41] However, the year ended on a low note for them with Farhan Akhtar's much-anticipated Don 2 receiving mixed response from the critics.

[46] In 2014, they collaborated with Dharma Productions for the romantic drama 2 States (2014), which earned them high critical praise and their third Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

In 2015, they composed the soundtrack and background score for Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do which earned them their eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

In 2016, their work on the soundtrack of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Mirzya earned them their twelfth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

In 2019, it was announced that the trio would be making their debut in the digital streaming space by composing the soundtrack and background score for an upcoming web series named Bandish Bandits.

[49] Meanwhile, in Hindi, they also composed for another period film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, but backed out of the Amitabh Bachchan-Aamir Khan-starrer Thugs of Hindostan due to scheduling conflicts.

[50] In 2020, they composed the soundtrack of Meghna Gulzar's Chhapaak which earned them their fourteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

Ehsaan, Loy and Farhad had formed the band Instant Karma, and they released redone versions of R. D. Burman and other composers over two albums in 2002.

[51] They have also composed music for several jingles, signature tunes for corporates including Reliance and Aircel, and public awareness campaigns.

[55] Later in 2008, they performed for the Live Earth India Concert to help light homes with solar energy along with several other celebrities like Jon Bon Jovi.

Their other notable collaborations have been with directors like Shaad Ali, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Zoya Akhtar, and Meghna Gulzar.

Each member of the trio brings his own talents and experiences to the group, combining the Carnatic and Hindustani vocal tradition (Shankar), Western rock (Ehsaan) and a deep understanding of fusion including a virtuoso mastery over the electronic synthesizer (Loy).

An overwhelming majority of Bollywood's most popular music has been composed based on classical Indian rāgas (in Sanskrit "raga" is literally "color" or "mood").

The trio is known for launching the career of numerous singers, including Mahalakshmi Iyer, Anusha Mani, Caralisa Monteiro, Dominique Cerejo, and Hard Kaur.

[73] Organized by Farhan Akhtar, they lead the Rock concert for raising funds for a paediatric medical camp in Bihar in 2008.