Sobha Raju was born on 30 November 1957 at
Vayalpadu,
Annamayya district, Andhra Pradesh (A.P). Her father R. G. Narayana Raju, a retired Deputy Collector, was a native of Tirumala Reddypalle,
Chittoor district. And her first spiritual mentor, while her mother Rajyalakshmi, was her first music teacher. She did her B.A. in history, Economics & Music from Sri. Padmavathi Women's College,
Tirupati, A.P. She is married to S. Nanda Kumar, who resigned from the post of Project Executive in
National Dairy Development Board to support her mission. Raju received her training in music from teachers like, Pullaiah, D. Seshagiri Rao, Pakala Munirathnam, Tiruttani Krishnamurthy, Kalpakam and Nedunuri Krishna Murthy garu. Her work has drawn inspiration from the teachings of
Ramakrishna and
Swami Vivekananda. Swami
Paramahamsa Yoganandaji's teachings also had a tremendous influence on her. The holy company of
Chinmayananda Saraswati,
Dayananda Saraswati, Vidya Prakasanandaji, and
Sathya Sai Baba helped a great deal in moulding her personality. She used to sing Bhajans and recite
Bhagavad Gita during their discourses
Other work Raju has contributed stories and articles to magazines and newspapers such as '
Andhra Prabha' and '
Andhra Bhoomi'. She is also the author of a few booklets such as "Sripadartham" (Commentaries to Annamayya Compositions) and "Pedatirumalayya Parichayam". She has composed many songs and poems since her childhood. Her compositions have been released as audio albums by various audio companies and temples. She is also the music director for the TV serial "Sri Annamacharya." ==Awards and recognition==