Getting into the entertainment industry has always been tough- nepotism and favourtism have overruled talent in many cases. Powerful insiders have tried to get big assignments for their kin, forcing those out who genuinely deserved a chance. Yet, some have persisted, and made a name for themselves purely on talent.
Stebin Ben is one of them. Brought up in small town Bhopal, Stebin grew up in a middle-class Malyalee family with no family background in the entertainment industry. From his school days, he loved singing and appreciated everything singing gave him. Stebin loved his schools music room- he bunked classes to learn music himself. He didn’t have a music teacher in school, but his teachers and friends encouraged him to sing in the school choir. This initial encouragement helped him boost his confidence in singing.
Then came a medium to showcase his singing skills- YouTube. Stebin shared his singing videos on various channels, while also performing live at local cafes. Slowly, his work started getting recognized, and he moved to Mumbai in 2017 after college to pursue his dream of singing professionally.
It took him 3 years to get his first break, after singing in clubs, cafes and other gigs. Till then, he sang customised versions of popular tracks like Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein, Yeh Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hai, and many others.
In 2021, he achieved his biggest breakthrough when he lent his voice to the superhit song “Thoda Thoda Pyar,” starring Siddharth Malhotra and Neha Sharma. Then came other popular songs like Rula Ke Gaya Ishq and his most famous song to date Sahiba.
“After Thoda Thoda Pyar, people realised I could do playback well. The song reached everywhere. People started liking my work so much that I started getting many playback singing offers, to a point of dubbing 1 song per day.” Stebin explains.
“After Sahiba, I could increase my prices due to the immense popularity of my songs.” he adds.
As Stebin also performs at many events, he likes to keep a balance between performing live and allowing those who cannot reach out to him. That’s why he always shares his pictures and videos of them on social media for everyone to see.
Stebin mostly likes to sing in genres that are between Bollywood and Sufi, as you can see in Sahiba, where there is a mix of Sufi and Qawwali vibes. Stebin has worked with leading actors like Akshay Kumar,Shahid Kapoor, Rajkumar Rao, Emraan Hashmi, and Vijay Deverakonda, among others, while being flexible with his genre to fit the narrative.
“I just need a good melody. If I get a good melody, I will always say yes, and I will start doing songs. So my thing, to understand the song or to say yes to collaboration is a good melody and good lyrics. And when I hear that, I’m really good.”
Being a Malayalee, Stebin aims to learn the language better as his mom and dad speaks the language at home. He feels Malayalam is a difficult language and he’d like to learn to sing a Malayalam song one day.
Stebin has never stopped learning, and that’s one advice he’d give to any aspiring singer. “Don’t learn only from 1 person, follow one person, as you’ll not get everything from one person. I’ve taken a bit from every artiste and learnt with every interaction.”
At 31, Stebin shows how a dedication to succeed is just enough to reach your goals, no matter how hard it can be to break the glass ceiling. He remains a voice that resonates across generations and languages—authentic, untrained, yet unmistakably powerful.
