Randhir Kanwal spent his formative years in the Princely city of Patiala. He was born in a Punjabi Brahmin family at Rohtak on 20th May, 1959, where his father was working as Professor in a College. Soon, his father moved to Patiala, to join in Punjab Govt. College of Physical Education. Thereafter, the whole family came to Patiala in 1962.

Randhir got his School, College And University education from Patiala only. Excelling in education, (he was in the University Merit List in M.A. Economics), Randhir went on to do M.Phil. (Economics). He joined the Department of Economics as Research Assistant and worked there for 2 years before joining a College as Lecturer in Economics. Very soon, he was selected as Economics Officer in Punjab National Bank, which he served for 21 years before opting for voluntary retirement in 2007. He was then Senior Manager in the Bank. With his posting in the bank in 1985, started his long & fruitful association with Ludhiana. This was also the agaaz of his journey of Music.

Randhir Kanwal, inherited love for music & art from his father Prof. Sulekh Chandar Kanwal, who himself was a multi-facet personality. An Urdu Poet himself, Prof. S.C. Kanwal provided enough exposure to young Randhir Kanwal into the world of Art. Randhir saw his father introducing and encouraging many budding artists of his time, including the famous Punjabi Singer Gurdas Maan, noted Film & Stage actress Nirmal Rishi & noted theatre artist Aziz Qureshi.

Randhir also got inspiration from one of his maternal uncles, who unfortunately died very young. Though always interested in Music, learning opportunities came late to Randhir when he came to Ludhiana. However, for his love & grip on the poetry, he was soon noticed and accepted by the audience particularly in the literary circle. He took early lessons in Music from Prof. C.L. Bhalla. In Ludhiana, Randhir got an opportunity to closely work with Dr. Surjit Patar, the famous Punjabi poet and Prof. N.K. Kalia 'Aatish', a competent critic of Urdu Ghazal from whom Randhir gathered many of the finer points of Ghazal. Besides he was closely associated with Dr. Kewal Dheer, the eminent Urdu fiction writer. Through Adeeb International, of which Dr. Dheer is the General Secretary, Randhir Kanwal met eminent poets of the sub-continent who would come to Ludhiana regularly mushaira. However most of his learning in ghazals singing had come from self- efforts and devotion. He was an ardent listener of ghazals, right from his teen days when singers like Begum Akhtar, K.L. Sehgal and Mehdi Hasan were ruling the scene. He distinctly remembers his College and University days when the friends would be discussing good ghazals and poetry. As ghazals spread its wings more, partly due to the electronic revolution, the market of ghazals too spread. Singers like Ghulam Ali, Parvez Mehdi and Jagjit Singh consolidated their positions in ghazals singing and discovered new styles too. It was all very fascinating and Randhir too learnt the emerging trends in ghazals. He imbibed the style in Ghazal singing in which prominence is given rendering of poetry and it is backed up by the musical composition capturing the mood of the ghazals.

Randhir is married to the daughter of film artist of yester years Thakur Balwant Singh who had been in the lead role of many hindi films including 'Padosi - by V. Shantaram'.

Randhir also heads Dhavani: Association for Promotion of Arts, which is promoting very good & meaningful music since 2003. Ghazal Time is his personal proprietorship. Presently Randhir is into Ghazal Concerts. An other area of his interest & expertise is singing the old melodies.