Sanjaya Malakar

photo by Prphotos

Birth Name: Sanjaya Joseph Malakar

Place of Birth: Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Date of Birth: September 10, 1989

Ethnicity:
*father – Bengali Indian
*maternal grandfather – Italian
*maternal grandmother – Dutch, Irish, English

Sanjaya Malakar is an American singer and pastry chef. He was a finalist on season six of singing competition series American Idol.

Sanjaya’s father, Vasudeva Malakar, a Bengali Indian, was born in Vrindavan, India. Sanjaya’s mother is American-born, of Italian descent on her own father’s side and of Dutch, Irish, and English ancestry on her own mother’s side. He was raised in Federal Way, Washington.

Sanjaya’s maternal grandfather is Joseph Paul Recchi, Sr. (the son of John Recchi and Mary R. Cilfone or Pretare). Joseph was born in Washington, to Italian parents.

Sanjaya’s maternal grandmother is LoHua Myrle Odekirk (the daughter of Heber Lawrence Odekirk, Sr. and Esther Margaret Dean). LoHua was born in Utah, and had Dutch, Irish, and English ancestry. Heber was the son of Isaac William Odekirk and Hannah Margarith Pace.

Source: Genealogy and obituary of Sanjaya’s maternal great-grandfather, Heber Lawrence Odekirk, Sr. – http://www.findagrave.com