He grew up to the sound of music, his father being renowned Dhrupad exponent late Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod. Brother of late musician Shravan Rathod and singer Vinod Rathod, Roop Kumar Rathod was a respected tabla artiste. In his 20s, young Roop's beats added razzmatazz to the ghazal concerts of stalwarts - from Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali to Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas and Hariharan in the early '80s. It was to make his father proud that he decided to pursue singing.