Tony Kanal

Tony Ashwin Kanal the bassist for ska-pop crossover band No Doubt.  His musical work outside of the band includes producing and songwriting with artists such as reggae singer Elan Atias and fellow No Doubt bandmate Gwen Stefani, among others.  Kanal was born in Kingsbury, a suburb of London. His father, Gulab Kanal, originally from Sukkur, Sindh , and his mother, Lajwanti, from Mumbai, were living in Britain but moved to the US in 1981.
Gulab Kanal started a shop called Kanal's Gift and Fashion, in Anaheim (near Disneyland)., and unlike the stereotypical Indian father, openly encouraged his son to express his creative urges. By age 15, young Tony was playing saxophone in his high school's jazz ensemble, but found his punk and underground rock leanings at odds with the jazz band's scrubbed, wholesome school-approved persona.

When he first saw No Doubt play at a punk club in 1987, the band announced that their bass player was leaving the band. Intrigued, he showed up to audition and was immediately accepted as No Doubt's bassist despite the fact that he'd never played in a rock band before.   Kanal eventually dated the attractive singer Gwen Stefnai. (She looks great in a bindi)  Many of the songs on the album "Tragic Kingdom" were written by Stefani about their subsequent breakup, most notably the hit "Don't Speak". Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her hit song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album.

Source: Wikipedia, The Times of India

Nikki Haley

Born Nimrata Randhawa, Nikki Haley, is an elected official and businesswoman from South Carolina. Haley represents Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives.  Haley is the Republican nominee in the South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2010 and has been endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Her parents, Dr. Ajit and Raj Randhawa, are Sikh immigrants from Amritsar, India. She has two brothers, Mitti and Charan, and a sister, Simran.  After joining her mother's business, Exotica International, an upscale clothing firm in 1994, the family business grew to a multi-million dollar company.

Adopting her husband's surname and religion did not spare her racist attacks.  On June 3, 2010, on the internet political talk show Pub Politics, Sen. Jake Knotts, a South Carolina lawmaker and supporter of Haley opponent Andre Bauer, repeatedly referred to Haley as a "raghead" saying "We've already got a raghead in the White House, we don't need another raghead in the governor's mansion." The Republican state legislator later apologized for the slur, saying the remarks about President Barack Obama and state Rep. Nikki Haley were meant as a joke. Sad.

Source: Wikipedia

Ben Kingsley

Even though he's probably best known as portraying the world's best known Indian, early in his career, this British-born actor shed his real name, Krishna Pandit Bhanji, because it was too 'foreign' sounding.

Kingsley was born in Snainton, near Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, the son of Anna Lyna Mary (née Goodman), an actress and model, and Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, a medical doctor.

Kingsley's father was born in Kenya of Gujarati Indian descent; Kingsley's paternal grandfather was a spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to England at the age of 14.  Ben Kingsley's mother, born out of wedlock, was "loath to speak of her background"; she was the daughter of an English mother who worked in the garment district of East London, and a father who was believed by the family to have been a Russian or German Jew.

source: Wikipedia

'Chilli' of TLC

In the 90s, she was part of one of the biggest r&b groups. As the subject of a feature article in "Today's Black Woman", who knew Rozonda Ocelean Thomas is "Indian" on both sides?

She graduated from B.E. Mays High School. Her father, Abdul Ali, was of East Indian descent and her mother, Ava Thomas, is of African American and Native American descent.  Thomas, who had been raised by her mother, later allowed the Sally Jessy Raphael television talk show to air footage of her meeting her father for the first time in 1996.

Since the death of group member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes in April 2002, Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins have occasionally performed as a duo.

Source: Wikipedia

Freddie Mercury

He was probably the first and biggest Indian rock star, though he didn't really talk about his Indian roots much.

Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, his parents Bomi and Jer, were Parsis from Gujurat, India.  The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Freddie and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion.  The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar in order for his father to continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. He had one younger sister, Kashmira.

In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a boarding school for boys in Panchgani near Bombay (now Mumbai), India.  At school, he formed a popular school band, The Hectics, for which he played piano. A friend from the time recalls that he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano".  It was also at St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie". Mercury remained in India for most of his childhood, living with his grandmother and aunt. He completed his education in India at St. Mary's School, Bombay.

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family moved into a small house in Feltham, Middlesex, England. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College) in West London where he studied art. He ultimately earned a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen crest. Mercury remained a British citizen for the rest of his life.

Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London. He also held a job at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great deal of interest in music.[19] In 1969 he joined the band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. When this band failed to take off, he joined a second band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970 this group broke up as well.

In April 1970, Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile. Despite reservations from the other members, Mercury chose the name "Queen" for the new band. He later said about the band's name, "I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it". At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury. The rest is rock 'n' roll history. 

Source: Wikipedia