He was born in 1915 at Chowdasandra,
Nelamangala to Chikkalingappa and Kallamma. He weaved for a living. At age 5 he lost his father and grew up listening to his mother's
Bhajans and music. He moved to
Bangalore for work, learned classical music, then accidentally he met his guru Sambandha Murthy Bhagavathar (Hari katha vidwan in three south Indian languages & also classical musician) in a relative's marriage function and became his disciple for learning classical music. He first became a pupil of his relative Murthy, then a pupil of
harmonium player Arunachalappa. Honappa staged a play in Salem and at the same time
M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, who was a rising star in Tamil cinema, recommended Bhagvathar to director
Ellis R. Duncan for a supporting role in his film
Ambikapathi. Bhagvathar play was a success and he was honoured with the title "Bhagavathar" and was from then on credited as Honnappa Bhagavathar. ==Career==