Malgudi Subha

She counts Usha Uthup among her role models. She is a great fan of Kishore Kumar.

She began her career by providing vocals for ad jingles composed by people like A. R. Rahman and Viji Manuel. She debuted as a playback singer in the film Nadodi Thendral, with music by Ilayaraja. Prominent Indian composer A. R. Rahman's debut album, Set Me Free (also called Shubhaa Set Me Free), had all its songs sung by Malgudi Shubha. The album, which was released in the early 1990s by some local labels, went unnoticed, but became a good seller when it was re-released in 1996 by the label Magnasound.

Her first successful Telugu album, Chikpak Chikbhum, which was released in Chennai, sold ten lakh copies. The songs were composed by Raj-Koti, under whom A. R. Rahman was assisted.

She has appeared as a judge on the Malayalam language music competition program Idea Star Singer. She is a judge in Star Singer 2 (Kannada), airing on Asianet Suvarna from 7-8 pm on weekdays. She is also a judge in the Tamil music competition program Super Singer in Star Vijay.

The South Indian actress Priyamani is her niece.