Dr. V. Krishna belongs to a family of performing musicians, all whom are graded artistes of All India Radio and Doordarshan. His father, Ghatam Maestro Late Sangeetha Kalarathna Bangalore K. Venkataram, was his first guru; while his mother, eminent vocalist Gamaka Kala Kogile G. R. Jaya, played a big role in shaping his career as a musician – engineer. His sister Kalavathy Avadhoot is well-known vocalist, while his wife N. R. Harini and sister-in-law N. R. Sharada are an accomplished vocal duet team. Dr. V. Krishna started learning mridangam under his father at the tender age of seven. He gave his first public performance at the age of ten – providing mridangam accompaniment, along with his father, for the concert of eminent vocalist Sangeetha Kalarathna Seethalakshmi Venkateshan. Later, within a short span of time, he went on to provide mridangam accompaniment to greats such as A. Subba Rao, C. Honnappa Bhagavatar, Dr. V. Doreswamy Iyengar, Dr. R. K. Srikantan, Dr. N. Ramani, A. K. C.Natarajan, B. N. Suresh and others. At the age of 14, he came under the tutelage of mridangam maestro Mridanga Kala Shiromani A. V. Anand for a scholarship received from Ministry of Culture, Government of India. A. V. Anand’s guidance spurred young Krishna onto higher planes of artistic excellence and he continues to be guided by him till date.