Nerkunam S. Manikandan was born in 1977 to Sri K. Suriyanarayanan and Smt. S. Vasantha. He was inclined to Carnatic music at a tender age and initially learnt the mridangam from Sri P.T. Subramaniam of Doordarshan, Chennai. He subsequently learnt the morsing from Srivanjiyam Sri K. Gopalan. Manikandan underwent advanced mridangam training from Madurai Sri. T. Srinivasan. He has been in the advanced tutelage for morsing under Kalaimamani Sri A.S. Krishnan for the last 10 years.