Born on the 20th of January, 1981, at Chennai, to Sri. O.S. Mani, Chief Engineer, Marine, and Smt. Hemalatha Mani, Veena Vidushi, Charulatha Mani grew up in a musical atmosphere at home. She was inculcated into music at a very young age and grew up listening to her mother's numerous concerts and practice sessions. As a child, when she accompanied her parents on board for voyages abroad, she sang along with the tapes of great stalwarts like M.S. Subbulakshmi, and even then, her forays into the music world had well begun. Even at the age of 4 she sang complex compositions and ata tala varnas.

Spotting this natural talent, her parents put her under the able guidance of Sangita Kala Acharya Sandhyavandanam Sri Srinivasa Rao and his son Poorna Pragna Rao, at the age of 9. She has also undergone advanced training under Calcutta Sri. K. S. Krishnamurthy and Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi training under Sri Venkatrama Iyer.

She continues to work very hard for achieving new heights in music, and has given over 500 concerts in all major sabhas all over India and abroad, from the age of 11. Her performances during the music season are very well received, and she has won several awards for Best Concerts from various sabhas.

She has many audio releases to her credit, including thematic albums, which have been widely appreciated.

Charulatha Mani is a Mechanical Engineer from the College of Engineering, Guindy, but she responded to her soul's call, and decided to take up singing as a full time career. In November 2003, she married Sri Karthik Balasubramaniam, a software professional and music lover.

She has a Masters in Music from the University of Madras.