Sparsh Shah


Location: New York, NY

Challenge: Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Website: facebook.com/purhythm

Sparsh Shah a.k.a. "Purhythm" is a 16-year-old child prodigy, singer, songwriter, rapper and an inspirational speaker. He was born with an incurable disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which makes his bones extremely fragile/brittle, due to which even a hard hand shake can break his bones. He cannot bear weight on his hands and legs; and hence cannot walk or run like other normal kids. He had more than 135 fractures and multiple rod surgeries (8 rods and 22 screws in his body) so far in 16 years of his life and God knows how many more are yet to come. But God has gifted him with a divine voice and a brilliant mind. He has been training in Indian classical music for last nine years and American vocal music for over five years. He has multiple talents such as performing in community events and has done over 150 live performances in front of audiences from 100 to 50,000 people, including Howdy, Modi! at NRG Stadium, WE DAY UN at Barclay’s Center, NY Mets Vs Pirates Game @ Citifield, NBC/Telemundo 47 Health & Fitness Expo @ 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 76ers, NY Knicks Vs Detroit Pistons, NY Knicks Vs Phoenix, NY Knicks Vs Atlanta Hawks, Harlem Globetrotters Game @ Madison Square Garden, NJ Devils Game @ Prudential Center, UFL Pro World Cup, Diwali @ Times Square, United Nations HQ, TEDx Gateway @ NCPA, Largest India Day Parade in NYC, Shankar Mahadevan’s Concert @ Symphony Hall, Shaan’s Concert @ NJPAC, Prudential Advisors @ Intrepid Museum, etc.

Sparsh has appeared on several radio and television shows such as World’s Greatest Motivators, NBC: Little Big Shots USA, George To The Rescue (Nominated for NY Emmy Award), TODAY Show, The Maury Show; iTV: Little Big Shots UK; BBC; WABC; WGN TV; RTL TV; NOS Jeudgjournaal TV, TOCA BOCA TV, SONY TV: Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, it was aired in 190+ countries and watched by a billion people), Keys To Kismat; TV Asia: Focus Live; etc.

Sparsh has been a keynote speaker at Google, Deloitte Consulting, Oppenheimer Funds, United Nations, NBA Preseason Referee Meet, Comfort Company, Horizon BCBSNJ, Driven by Suzanne Evans, CIF Higher Education Forum, Vraj Walkathon, iCAN Summit, GOAFEST, MOCAAPI Gala, World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, VMalaysia (20,000 people), Hindi USA Mahotsav, JAINA, Gujarati Unity Festival, BEST 2020 Youth Leadership Empowerment Conference, The HR Congress, etc.

Sparsh was a Pi Champion of his school, has memorized 347 digits of Pi, Woodbridge District Spelling Bee Champion, can speak some of the 12 longest words in English dictionary in less than 18 seconds, can speak in 4 different accents in English, written 55+ original songs (4 songs released), several poems, short stories, inspirational/motivational/funny speeches ("We Are Disabled", "Environmental Protection", "Three Lessons of Life", "3W’s of Winning", "How to get rid of fear and build self-confidence", "Self-Responsibility and Social-Responsibility in Advertising", "Driven for Entrepreneurs", "Passion and Purpose for Higher Education", "7 Habits of I’M Possible People", "Service to Humanity is the Service to God", "How can you be unstoppable in life").

Sparsh has won prizes in eight singing competitions including "Young Voice of NYC" whereby he became the Youth Ambassador for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is also a Youth Ambassador for VOSAP, Mission Possible-Never Start.

Sparsh became a worldwide internet sensation with the launch of Eminem’s cover song, "Not Afraid" with over 75 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, Vinny Paz on their social media/websites. Sparsh was ranked as one of the Top 10 Indian origin child prodigies that make India swelling proud by Yahoo. Sparsh delivered an inspirational speech: "My Disability Does not Define Me" on #WEDAY UN organized by WE.org to inspire 19,000 world-changers that came together at Barclays Center. Sparsh was featured by GOALCAST and received over 10 million views.

Sparsh delivered an amazingly inspirational TEDx 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 25 million views. He has been 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, NavGujarat Samay, Navbharat Times, Dainik Jagaran, Republic TV, Bombay Times, etc.

Sparsh was featured in an amazing cover of Michael Jackson’s song: Heal The World by Maati Baani, which went viral with over 75 million views. Sparsh has now garnered over 200 million views and is followed in 200+ countries on all social media.

Sparsh launched his first cover album, "Tribute To Eminem". It can be bought on CD Baby. The music videos of this album can be viewed on this YouTube Playlist. With this album, Sparsh has initiated a unique idea to pioneer a sub-genre of music called "Raga-Rap";. It is an amazing combination of Indian Classical Music with Hip Hop-Rap. Here is the list of all the cover songs released by Sparsh on his YouTube channel.

Sparsh collaborated with Times Music to release India’s National Anthem on the Republic Day of India on Times Music’s YT channel.

Sparsh released a cover song, Chand Sifarish of the famous Bollywood movie: Fanaa, originally sung by Shaan and Kailash Kher. He received accolades from Shaan. He shared the cover song by tweeting about it and later invited Sparsh to perform at his concert at NJPAC, NJ. Sparsh collaborated to create 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 has worked as an inspirational team member to the Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals Cricket Teams for India’s biggest professional Cricket League tournament, IPL.

Sparsh has been featured in three documentary films on his life story:

  1. ESPN E:60
  2. Galileo (Wonder Kids), a GERMAN Television Show
  3. Brittle Bone Rapper-Inspirational World of Sparsh by Real Stories

Sparsh has been featured in the following inspirational Podcasts:

  1. Be Brilliant: Feel The Joy By Microsoft
  2. Live Inspired: Turn Impossible to I’M Possible By John O’Leary
  3. Finding Your Summit: Combining Indian Classical Music with Hip Hop By Mark Pattisson

Sparsh 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 events for New Jersey Institute for Disabilities, March of Dimes, South Asian American Community Outreach, Enable Inc, FOP, CRY America Inc., Garden of Dreams Foundation, Encourage Kids Foundation, Joey Logano Foundation, VOSAP, NeverStart, Care4Brittle Bones, etc.

Awards Received:

  • "20 Under 20 Global Indian-Male Award" by YONO SBI.
  • "Best Motivational Speaker and Youth Singer Award" by Shiamak USA.
  • "Global Indian Award" by Canada India Foundation.
  • "JL Kids Crew" by Joey Logano Foundation.
  • "Special Achievements Award" by GOPIO & citation certificate by The State of NJ Senate and General Assembly.
  • "Global Inspiration Award" from The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SGCCI).
  • "Best Male Singer-Most Popular Vote Award" at IFAB Music Awards.
  • "2017 RARE Champion of Hope Award" by Global Genes.
  • "Champion of Inclusion Award" by National Inclusion Project.
  • "Special Achievements Award" from Glorious India Expo at NJ Expo Center, NJ.
  • "Junior Phenom Award" by Harlem Globetrotters.
  • "Inspiration Award of Excellence" by South Asian American Community Outreach (SACO) organization.
  • "Most Inspiring Individual Award" at the International Children’s Advisory Network (ICAN) Summit in Barcelona, Spain.
  • "Inspiration Award of Excellence" by the prestigious South Asian American Community Outreach (SACO) organization.
  • "Shoorveer Award" by Ample Mission in India.

Despite of all the challenges in life, Sparsh’s spirit is unbreakable and he aspires to inspire billions of people all over the world with his musical talent and motivational speeches.


Sparsh Shah