P Unnikrishnan was born on 9th July in the year 1966 to parents K Radhakrishnan and Dr Harini Radhakrishnan. He was born to a family that has been considered as the landmark of Chennai city as his great grandfather; Dr K.N Kesari was an eminent Ayurvedic physician and the impresario of the popular Telugu women`s magazine `Gruhalakshmi`. Their home at that time was very famous, as it was believed to the center of artistes and singers with eminent personalities. These artists on a regular basis came there and execute their gayaki. Dr K. N Kesari used to reward them after their performances.

It was quiet easily perceived by the senses that being raised in such musical family P Unnikrishnan will take up the art form of music at an early age. At his childhood and later on also, cricket occupied a pivotal position within him. But his talent in the realm of music has been noticed by his mother and with her initiative; P Unnikrishnan has been registered under Sri VL Seshadri to receive music lesions. During his school days at the Asan Memorial School, P Unnikrishnan simultaneously carried out both cricket and music. He not only carried it out but also started exhibiting his excellence in both the stream of lines.

In the year 1987, P Unnikrishnan obtained his graduation in Commerce from the Vivekananda College, Madras University. At that time he was receiving training in music from Dr S Ramanathan, the well-known musician`s musician. P Unnikrishnan`s love for cricket led him to obtain graduation in it and he has been enrolled as a top order batsman and wicket keeper in the Tamil Nadu Senior Division League. From the 1990, he started executing his repertoire in music. His first concert was held at Palghat. His musical talent has been noticed out there. His eloquent voice has however managed to fetch the attention of the music lovers. Later on he joined the league of young Turks such as Vijay Siva and Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Their main aim is to `bring back the fans to Carnatic Music`.

P Unnikrishnan left the cricket sadly as he has to devote his time towards his training for music. But he continues to be a life member of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. He continued her musical training under Sangita Kalanidhi Dr Ramanathan, Calcutta Sri KS Krishnamurthy and later on Smt Savitri Sathyamurthy. P Unnikrishnan has also fetched the honor of being trained under Sangita Kalanidhi T Brinda and Sangita Kalanidhi T Viswanathan on a six-month training programme on the Veena Dhanammal bani. During the time he has done his General Law and Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. After that he joined the Parrys Confectionery Limited and stayed there from the year 1991 to 1994.

But the destiny has written something else for him. By the time P Unnikrishnan became very busy with his musical concerts. In the year 1994, he got his first film offer. `Ennavalae` (Kaadalan) and `Uyirum Neeye` (Pavitra) were the first songs that fetched the National Award for Best Male Playback Singer for him. Today he has been given credit to connecting the classical music - film music. Due to his involvement into the field of music P Unnikrishnan left his corporate career. He devoted his full time to music. P Unnikrishnan is married to Priya and the couple has two children. Still today he has been receiving training under Sri PS Narayanaswami and Prof. SR Janakiraman.

Throughout his musical career he has been conferred many accolades. P.Unnikrishnan has been conferred the title "Isai Peroli" by Karthik Fine Arts, on Sunday the 6th of December 1998; he was awarded the title "Yuva Kala Barathi" by the Bharath Kalachar; the title "Nada Bhushanam" conferred to him by the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts; New Delhi and the title "Kalaimamani" by the Govt. of TamilNadu; received the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for the year 1994 for his first ever film song "Ennavale" (Kadalan) and "Uyirum Neeye"(Pavithra); received various awards from the Music Academy, Chennai and other prestigious institutions; recorded over 600 film songs for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films; has more than 25 albums on cassettes and CD`s to his credit; is an "A" grade artist of the All India Radio and has given a number of concerts all over India, U.S.A, The Middle East, The United Kingdom, The Far East, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.