Carnatic vocalist K.N. Shashikiran hails from a family of renowned musicians. He is the son of the accomplished ‘Chitravina’ Narasimhan and the grandson of the legendary Gottuvadhyam Narayana Iyengar. He emerged a child prodigy with a talent for identifying ragas, demonstrating complicated talas, and answering technical questions put to him. He underwent musical training under the tutelage of stalwarts like T. Brinda, T.Viswanathan and Calcutta K.S. Krishnamurthy. 

With an exemplary academic record, he is also a keen writer and contributes articles and reviews to newspapers and websites. He established Carnatica – a centre for the complete education of Carnatic music, and runs it with Carnatic vocalist S. Sowmya. 

He obtained a Bachelor's degree in music from the University of Madras where he ranked first. Then followed a Master's degree in music from the University of Madras and excelled as a gold medallist. He is currently working towards achieving a doctorate on "Teaching Methodology in Carnatic Music". Alongside he also holds a diploma in Audio and Video Technology. 

Shashikiran has won many accolades for his talent. He was awarded the Rani Sethulakshmi Bai Memorial Award in 1990, the Best Pallavi Singer for his concert at the Rasika Ranjani. In 1997 he received an award for being the Best Exponent of Any Raga from the Music Academy, He received the award from the Carnatic MusicAssociation of North America in 1998 for being the Best Vocalist and finally the Bharat Nirman Excellence Award in 1999 for meritorious accomplishments in diverse fields of activity that have immensely contributed to the nation's progress. He is the youngest person and the first musician in India to receive this honour. He was the recipient of the Ford Foundation scholarship on the ‘Veena Dhanammal Bani’ in 1990.

K.N.Shashikiran and P.Ganesh sing together as Carnatica Brothers. The duo is very successful as performers, mentors and scholars in music.