Son of Shri. A. N. Siva, a great lover of carnatic music and Smt. Akhila Siva, a gold medalist from Carnatic Music College Chennai, Manoj Siva was born in February 1972 with music literally running in his veins. He is the younger brother of Shri. Vijay Siva, a highly acclaimed popular carnatic vocalist.

Mridangam was the field chosen by his committed parents. At age 6, Manoj went to his first mridangam class, learning under the veteran teacher Sangitha Kala Acharya Kumbakonam Shri. Rajappa Iyer and Shri. Srirangarajapuram Jayaraman. In the year 1992, he started to receive advanced training from the maestro Sangitha Kalanidhi Shri. Palghat R. Raghu.

Brilliant fingering technique, developed through his foundation years with Kumbakonam Shri. Rajappa Iyer, a feel for the nuances of mridangam playing and finally a thorough knowledge of the intricacies of the percussion instrument with the expert training of Shri. Palghat Raghu, have been the highlights of Manoj Siva's style of playing. Steeped in tradition, his tonal richness and clarity of strokes have, over the years individualized his playing. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he has, over the years, developed on the rich legacy handed over to him by his gurus and carved a style for him. Musicians and rasikas see his complete understanding of the kritis as his trump card, given his large exposure to vocal music. It would not be a surprise that he has sung for All India Radio in the Youth category and also benefitted from a brief discipleship under Sangitha Kalanidhi Shri. D. K. Jayaraman.

Manoj won the first prize in the prestigious competition held by All India Radio in the year 1992 and was subsequently awarded a grade by the All India Radio. Later, he built upon this achievement and is now an "A" grade artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan from the year 1997.

He has participated in Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan and National Programme of Music of both All India Radio and Doordarshan. His first Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan Programme was in the year 1997 accompanying Sangitha Kalanidhi Shri. K. V. Narayanswamy at Mumbai.

In the 20 plus years of his career, he has worked his way up the ladder and has participated in almost all the prestigious festivals all over India including the Music Academy Chennai from the year 1989. He has also performed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan with Shri. K. V. Narayanswamy. His brilliance won acclaim not just from delighted audiences but also artistes. Soon Manoj became a sought after accompanist. He has the rare opportunity to share the stage with 4 generations of artistes. He has accompanied leading stalwarts like: Shri. D. K. Jayaraman, Shri. K. V. Narayanaswamy, Smt. D. K. Pattammal, Smt. T. Muktha, Shri. R. K. Srikantan, Shri. B. Rajam Iyer, Shri. Lalgudi Jayaraman, Shri. P .S. Narayanaswamy, Shri. T. K. Govinda Rao, Shri. N. Ramani, Smt. R. Vedavalli, Shri. T. N. Seshagopalan, Shri. Trichur Ramachandran, Shri. T. V. Sankaranarayanan and Shri. O. S. Thyagarajan. He has accompanied the current generation of star performers that include: Shri. Vijay Siva, Smt. Bombay Jayashri, Shri. T. M. Krishna, Smt. Ranjani and Smt. Gayatri, Smt. Sowmya, Shri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Shri. P. Unnikrishnan, Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Shri. Lalgudi G. J. R. Krishnan, Smt. Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam, Shri. N. Ravikiran, Shri. Malladi Brothers and today's upcoming youngsters.

He has been recognized for his mridangam playing with a number of awards and accolades.

• Gold medal for mridangam playing by Y. M. C. A. Chennai at a tender age of seven
• First prize for Mridangam accompaniment in concerts from institutions like The Music Academy, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and Y. A. C. M.
• "Vellore Gopalachari award" for Mridangam accompaniment by The Music Academy (2001)
• The title of "Yuva Kala Bharathi" by the Bharath Kalachar, Chennai (2002)
• The coveted "Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar" by the Central Sangeeth Natak Academy for the year 2006; incidentally, he was one of the first set of awardees
• "Nathan Memorial Award" by Sruthi Laya Kendra of Guru Karaikudi Mani (2007)
• The title of "Kanchi Kamakoti Aasthana Vidwan" by the Kanchi Mutt (2009)
• The title of "Mrudanga Mani" by his Holiness Kanchi Kamakoti Peetadhipathi Sri Jagadguru Jayendra Saraswathi (March 2010)

Manoj's performances gained recognition not just in India, but overseas too. He started his innings overseas with a bang, accompanying the legend Palghat Shri. K. V. Narayanaswamy on a tour to the USA and Canada in 1997. From then on, travelling has travelled abroad extensively. Manoj has now been a regular performer in countries like USA, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany and Australia.

Not content to restrict his instrument to the concert platform, he has expanded beyond to the field of teaching. Many of his concert tours are also packaged with lecture-demonstrations. Besides, feeling duty bound to propagate the great art handed down to him, he is a sought after teacher with students all round the globe.