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= Sparsh Shah = Sparsh Shah April 30, 2003 is a singer, rapper, song writer and a motivational speaker. He was born with some 40 fractures in his body.

Shah is trained in Hindustani classical music for 8 year and is also trained in American vocals for 4 years. He has appeared on local radio stations several times and regularly performs at community events. He has already mesmerized 250 pi digits, in less than 18 seconds can say the 12 longest words of the English dictionary. Besides that, he can also speaks English in four different accents.

Since he is born with an incurable disease named Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also known as Brittle bones), his bones are extremely brittle and fragile. He can’t even do a proper handshake because that can break his bones. He can’t even bear any weight on his legs and hands. In the first 15 years of his life, he already has had over 130 fractures.

He has already performed at prestigious events and places like Grammy Park, UN Headquarters and NBA Basketball games and more.

Early life
Shah was born in 30 April 2013 in Iselin, Middlesex, New Jersey to an Indian family.

Sparsh was born with an incurable disease called “Osteogenesis Imperfecta”. This condition makes his bones extremely fragile and brittle – even a hard handshake can break his bones. He cannot bear weight on his hands and legs, so he cannot walk or run like other normal kids. He has had more than 130 fractures in the first 15 years of his life already and the doctors cannot predict how many more are to come. When Sparsh was three years old, he started learning keyboard and reading books. However, as his bones kept breaking, it was difficult for him to continue to learn the keyboard and he had to stop playing.

Beginning of Music Career
Once, when he was three-and-a-half, his family was travelling in the car and his father switched on the radio. To his parents’ surprise, Sparsh remembered the song that was playing on the radio and started singing along. They thought that he perhaps knew the song because it was a well-known one. But then, he sang the second, the third and even the fourth song that was played on the radio. When they asked Sparsh about this, he said his preschool bus driver played the same channel and that is how he had memorized all the songs. This was the beginning of his music career.

Sparsh started learning Indian classical music at the age of 6 and is a student of Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music (PJIM) since 2009. He also learns American vocal music.

Career
Shah, at the age of 12 gain popularity with the launch of Eminem’s 2010 cover song, “Not Afraid” with over 65 million views on all social media sites combined. He was recognized and applauded by Eminem's Shady Records, Chris Brown, Akon, Jay Sean, Salman Khan, Shiamak Davar, Vikas Khanna, Brooke Lewis, on their personal social media/websites.

“I’ve been an original artiste since I was 10 and my first song was, This Love Will Never Fail. I have written over 30 original songs. My first cover of Eminem is huge and has been appreciated by followers in over 100 different countries,” he says in a interview with The Times of India. Some of the songs written by him are “This Love Will Never Fade,” “There’s Always Tomorrow,” “Why’d You Have To Leave Me?”, “You Are My Heroes,” “Count on Me,” “A Little Bit of Respect,” “Turn Around,” “Birthday Wishes,” “You’re The One,” and “No One Knows.” He has composed the music for most of them too.

Shah has had over 125 live performances to his credit including four at Madison Square Garden, Berkley Center with close to over 30,000 people in attendance and in NY Mets Vs Pirates Game at Citifield, NBC/Telemundo 47 Health & Fitness Expo at NY Giants Metlife Stadium, Governor Murphy’s Inauguration Ceremony, GRAMMY PARK as one of the Top 4 Next Generation: Emerging Artists, Garden of Dreams Concert at Radio City Music Hall, NBA Preseason Referee Meet, NY Knicks Vs Detroit Pistons, NY Knicks Vs Phoenix, NY Knicks Vs Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden, Harlem Globetrotters Game at Madison Square Garden, NJ Devils Game at Prudential Center, Diwali at Times Square, United Nations Head Quarters, TEDx Gateway, Largest India Day Parade in NYC, Shankar Mahadevan’s Concert at Symphony Hall.

He has appeared on several radio and television shows such as NBC: Little Big Shots USA, George To The Rescue, TODAY Show, The Maury Show, iTV: Little Big Shots UK, BBC, WABC, WGN TV, RTL TV, SONY: Keys To Kismat, YouTube Documentary: Brittle Bone Rapper-Inspirational World of Sparsh, hosted several shows as an MC, keynote speaker at Google, Deloitte Consulting, United Nations, NBA Preseason Referee Meet, Comfort Company; Driven by Suzanne Evans, CIF Higher Education Forum, etc.

Shah was featured in a cover of Michael Jackson’s song: Heal The World by Maati Baani, which went viral with over 55 million views.

Shah collaborated with Capri Everitt to write and sing an original song, “I Am, We Are” for an award-winning motion picture, ‘Anthems: A Journey Around The World’, that celebrates all cultures coming together to make our world a better place! Sparsh launched his first cover album, “Tribute To Eminem” in 2016. The music videos of this album can be viewed on his YouTube Playlist. With this album, Sparsh has initiated his idea to pioneer a subgenre of music called “Raga-Rap”. It is an combination of Indian Classical Music with Hip Hop-Rap.

Shah delivered an inspirational TED Talk: “How a 13 year old turned Impossible to I'M Possible" at Asia's largest TEDx event: TEDx Gateway. Sparsh received a standing ovation and this speech became the most viewed TEDx Gateway speech on all social media platforms with over 18 million views. He was featured by some of the biggest news publications of India such as Mumbai Mirror, India Times, DNA, Free Press Journal, Mumbai Samachar, Chitralekha, Gujarat Mitra, Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, Lokmat, OHeraldo Goa, AdGully, etc.

Shah been a catalyst in helping raise over a million dollars by performing and participating in fundraisers for various philanthropic organizations such as Literacy Drive for orphanages in Guyana, St. Jude's, Nepal earthquake victims, Chennai flood victims, The Heart and Hand for Handicapped, Share and Care Foundation, Sankara Eye Foundation, 5K Charity event for New Jersey Institute for Disabilities, March of Dimes, South Asian American Community Outreach, Enable Inc, FOP, CRY America Inc., Garden of Dreams Foundation, Joey Logano Foundation, VOSAP, NeverStart, etc.

Brittle Bone Rapper
“Brittle Bone Rapper” is a documentary on Sparsh Shah, which is a part of YouTube channel “Real stories”. It starred Sparsh Shah. The documentary followed Sparsh’s journey, who has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also known as Brittle Bones), as he underwent a life-changing spinal-fusion operation, a month before attending the Rare Champions of Hope awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 2017.

The film was produced by Doc Hearts for Little Dot Studios in 2018. It was directed by Andy Mundy-Castle and commissioned by Adam Gee for “Real Stories” channel.

The documentary has gained more than 93 thousand views on YouTube. In June it was displayed at the Regal Hadley Theatre Stadium by the New Jersey Indian & International Film Festival 2018.

Brittle Bones - Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI)
Brittle Bones, or Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), is a genetic disorder characterised by fragile bones that break easily. A person is born with this disorder and is affected throughout his or her life time.

OI is a genetic disorder of collagen, a protein which forms the framework for the bone structure. In OI the collagen may be of poor quality, or there may just not be enough to support the mineral structure of the bones. This makes the bones weak and fragile and results in the bones being liable to fracture at anytime even without trauma.

Each time a bone is broken and set it will heal in a position slightly less than perfect and the same bone may often break repeatedly.

As the composition of collagen in the bone is not correct, even when there are no fractures there will be other problems connected to the condition, such as muscle weakness, hearing loss, fatigue, joint laxity, curved bones, scoliosis, blue sclerae, dentinogenesis imperfecta (brittle teeth), and short stature. Restrictive pulmonary disease occurs in more severely affected people.

Awards and Achievements
Shah has performed and spoken in six countries across the globe, bagged scholarships and multiple awards including the prestigious Global Indian Award and has been on several TV shows including Ellen DeGeneres’ Little Big Shots.

Shah has mastered 250 digits of Pi, can say the longest 12 words from the English dictionary in under 18 seconds. He can also speak English in four different accents, and could spell a 45-letter-long word by the time he was six. The word was "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis".

Shah delivered an very appreciative inspirational TED Talk: “How a 13 year old turned Impossible to I'M Possible" at Asia's largest TEDx event: TEDx Gateway. Sparsh received a standing ovation and this speech became the most viewed TEDx Gateway speech on all social media platforms with over 18 million views. Shah has achieved more than 125 million views across all his social media platforms- Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, You Tube and Instagram. Shah was awarded Rare Champions of Hope award in Los Angeles in 2017 for his advocacy work. Hundreds of individuals and organisations worldwide were nominated by their peers to receive the Rare Champion of Hope award. It recognises people for their notable efforts in rare disease advocacy, science, collaborative sciences, and medical care and treatment. From the extraordinary list of nominees, panellists selected the recipients to be honoured as Rare Champions of Hope. In April 2015, Shah participated in and won the prestigious talent competition Young Voice of NYC, and was honoured to be made the ‘Youth Ambassador’ for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He now supports the hospital in spreading awareness about the fight against paediatric cancer. Shah was also a member of the Watt NXT Robotics team that won at the state and regional levels in the US. He participated in the first World Robotics Championship in St. Louis, MO in 2015. Shah won the first prize in the speech competition about Dr.Ambedkar at the Indian Consulate in New York City in November 2015. Shah also participated won the Swardhara Singing Competition organized by Marathi Vishwa, New Jersey, in February 2016. He won the first prize in Gaan Nipun Spardha, a prestigious singing competition organized by PJIM and was awarded a certificate of recognition by the stalwart of Hindustani classical music, Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, on February 27, 2016. Recently appeared in Kaun Banega Crore Pati, hosted Amitabh Bacchan.

Sparsh was awarded with awards -


 * YONO SBI 20 Under 20 “Global Indian - Male” Award

State Bank Of India

Jan 2019


 * Best Youth Motivational Speaker and Singer

Shiamak USA

Dec 2018


 * Global Indian Award

Canada India Foundation

Jul 2018


 * JL Kids Crew

Joey Logano Foundation

Jun 2018


 * Senate and General Assembly Citation

The State of New Jersey

Jun 2018


 * Special Achievements Award

Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO Central Jersey)

Jun 2018


 * Global Inspiration Award

Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SGCCI)

Apr 2018


 * The Most Popular Vote: Best Male Singer

IFAB Music Awards

Mar 2018


 * RARE Champion Of Hope Award

Global Genes

Oct 2017


 * Glorious India Award

Praveg Communications Ltd

Jun 2017


 * Junior Phenom Award

Harlem Globetrotter s

Feb 2017


 * Inspiration Award of Excellence

South Asian American Community Outreach (SACO)

Dec 2016


 * Most Inspiring Individual

Children's Advisory Network Research and Advocacy Summit

Jul 2016

References

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/music/news/sparsh-shah-i-am-aiming-for-the-grammy/articleshow/66880516.cms

https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/not-afraid-12-year-old-sings-cover-of-eminem-song-sparsh-shah-312966-2016-03-12

https://www.workingmother.com/sparsh-shah

https://disabilityhorizons.com/2018/10/sparsh-shah-the-15-year-old-rapper-with-brittle-bones/

https://www.thebetterindia.com/47907/sparsh-shah-purhythm-child-prodigy/

https://www.ottobock.co.uk/wheelchairs-seating/common-conditions/brittle-bones/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahsparsh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_Bone_Rapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYzWeTdr1Qw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwzlMUt9oM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC0hlK7WGcM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgb4Osm9F_M