Chennai: Noted playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, 74, who swayed the masses and classes with his versatile songs, passed away at a private hospital at 1.04pm in Chennai on Friday.
SPB, as he is popularly known, was undergoing treatment following symptoms of COVID-19 at MGM Healthcare, Chennai, since August 5.
The six-time national award winner's condition deteriorated on Thursday night following which he was put on life supporting system.
He is survived by wife Savitri, daughter Pallavi and son S P Charan.
The legend of SPB
SP Balasubrahmanyam, popularly known as SPB, was born in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh on 4 June, 1946. He has also dabbled with music direction, acting, dubbing and film production.
SPB began his career in 1966 with a Telugu song 'Emiyee Vinta Moham...' in the film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, scored by his mentor, S P Kodandapani. The movie was directed by K Hemambharadhara Rao and starred B Padmanabham and Gitanjali in the lead.
SPB later made his debut in the Kannada and Tamil film industries.
SPB got the break of his career in 1969, when the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran (MGR), wanted him to sing in his movie Adimaipenn. SPB, who was struggling to make a mark then, grabbed this opportunity.
The song 'Aayiram Nilave Vaa...' made waves and Adimaipenn was a huge hit, spurring SPB's association with films spanning an astonishing 40,000 songs in 16 local languages.
SPB has won six national awards and the first one was for the Telugu movie song 'Om Kaara Naadhanu...' in the movie Sankarabaranam. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Interestingly, the veteran singer was not a trained classical singer when he made his mark initially, though later on he learned the craft with devotion.
