T.N. Bala hails from Tiruvayyaru in Tanjore Dt, India. He is one of the very early disciples of the late Ganakaladhara Madurai Mani Iyer. A professional Broadcaster, artist and executive in All India Radio in Chennai and Delhi, years after his Masters in Journalism and Economics, he migrated to the United States some 52 years ago after being selected to join the Broadcasting division of American Radio and Television. Besides a vocalist, Bala is also a percussionist, playing on mridangam and kanjeera. He has accompanied many artists like Maharajapuram Santhanam, TV.Sankaranarayanan, D.K. Pattammal, D.K. Jayaraman, M.L. Vasanthakumari, Mandolin Srinivas, Trichur Ramachandran, to name a few, both in India and abroad. Among other things, Bala is a reputed composer. One of his compositions 'Vilayada I dhunerama', in Shangumugapriya, was made a household name by the late Maharajapuram Santhanam. Subsequently, vidwans like D.K. Jayaraman, Trichur Ramachandran, B. Rajam Iyer, Santhanapopalan, T.R. Subramaniam, Sudha Raghunathan, R. Ganesan, Sangeetha Swaminathan, Mandolin U Srinivas, tonam e a few, have presented here and there some of his compositions.