 Chaya was born to B.Ramamurthy and S.G.Janaki.She hails from Karnataka state, was a music lover from her childhood and was called a "child prodigy"

Chaya continued to sing popular songs in films and branched out to sing songs for private albums.She recorded duets with veterans of her time like M. Balamurali Krishna, P. B. Sreenivas, K. J. Yesudas, Dr. Rajkumar and S. P. Balasubramanyam.She also sang with S. Janaki, P. Susheela, Vani Jairam.