Deva was born to M. C. Chokkalingam and M. C. Krishnaveni in the year 1950, November 20th. Even in his childhood, Deva was attracted to the world of music. Teaming up with Chandra Bose, he did many musical programmes in stage. He started learning classical music under Dhanraj. Later he completed a course in Western music at Trinity College of Music in London. His son Srikanth Deva is also a music director. Deva's brothers are also music directors, formed the duo Sabesh-Murali. His nephew Jai is an actor.