Celebrated playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam died on September 25 at a hospital in Chennai where he was treated for COVID-19 since last month. He was 74. 

Balasubrahmanyam, popularly known as SPB, captivated millions of hearts by his supreme singing talent for over five decades.

The six-time National Award-winning music legend has sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages including Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. He has won several Filmfare awards and state awards. He was also honoured with the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011

Born in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, SPB made his debut as a playback singer in December 1966 with Telugu film ‘Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna’. The evergreen song ‘Ayiram Nilave Vaa’ from MGR starrer Tamil flick ‘Adimaipen’ catapulted him to fame in 1969 and there had been no looking back for SPB since then. He proved he can handle classical also with a sterling performance in the 1980 super hit ‘Sankarabharanam’ by K. Vishwanath, rendering as many as nine songs.

SPB went on to sing under music directors spanning generations from Kodhandapani, M.S. Viswanathan, Illaiyaraja, A.R. Rahman and Deva. He lent his voice to Salman Khan’s songs in his early films ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, ‘Saajan’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’.

SPB will also be remembered for his brief stints as a producer, music director and actor.

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