Who was Dr Samuel Grubb?

Dr Samuel Grubb, a famous dermatologist who retired as Chief of Dermatology at the Madras Meducal College, found greater fame as a choir conductor and gospel singer.

Dr Grubb headed the famous quartet called GATT, made up of the four initial letters of its members – Grubb, Allan, Tony and Theophilus. After spending 20 years as a quartet, the group became a quintet with Dr Ravi T Santhosham staying on after Allan’s return from his UK studies. Three medical doctors, an aerospace engineer and a musician made up the quintet who travelled across the state, performing at major Christian events. They also travelled across India and their international performances included concerts in England and the USA.

Samuel also performed in Australia and enjoyed a performance before the Pope at the Pantheon in Rome.

Grubb’s deep bass voice earned him the nickname of “Bottomless Bass” from world renowned Gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson.

Grubb was married to Pramila, a famous pianist and their son – Avinash Mario Grubb – is currently the principal organist at St Mark’s Cathedral in Bangalore. Grubb’s cousin Suvi Raj Grubb worked in London for recording giant EMI and his many recordings included one with The Beatles.

Grubb enjoyed a long and successful liaison with the MMA (Madras Music Association), earning the title Conductor Emeritus after conducting music for them from 2009 to 2017.

It was pop singer Usha Uthup who arranged a meeting between Illaiyaraja and Grubb. That meeting led to Illaiyaraja using Grubb’s unique deep voice in the quirky hit song Annae Annae from Gangaiamaran’s 1982 directorial debut in Kozhi Koovuthu which starred Prabhu, Silk Smitha and Suresh. Samuel Grubb was accompanied by Deepan Chakravarthy and G. Vidhyadhar in the song that enjoyed worldwide popularity.

Grubb subsequently sang the song – Velakku Vacha nerathile from Rama Narayanan’s 1984 film Pei Veedu – for the music duo Shankar-Ganesh.

A year later, Illaiyaraja used him again in the song “Oh Julie Julie” with S. Janaki for the soundtrack of Vijayakanth’s Annai Bhoomi, Tamil cinema’s first 3-D film.

Dr Samuel Grubb passed away in May 2021, leaving a rich musical legacy and an enviable reputation as one of Tamil Nadu’s finest dermatologists.