Veteran singer Kalyani Menon, 80, passes away in Chennai

Chennai: Veteran classical vocalist and playback singer Kalyani Menon passed away here on Monday. She was 80.

Famed filmmaker and cinematographer Rajiv Menon is her son.

Kalyani was undergoing treatment for quite a while following paralysis.

Kalyani Menon learned classical music from 'Sangeetha Bhushanam' MR Sivaraman Nair and made a mark as a classical vocalist, before gradually branching out into playback singing for films. 'Kanneerin Mazhayathum' by composer MS Baburaj in Ramu Kariat’s Dweepu was her first big Malayalam hit.

After beginning her career in the 1970s as a classical singer, she later established a parallel career as a singer in both Malayalam and Tamil film industry. She has also worked extensively with top composer AR Rahman during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

She had worked on songs including the title track from Alaipayuthey, 'Adhisaya Thirumanam' from Parthale Paravasam and for the three versions of 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa'.

Kalyani also featured in Rahman's historical Vande Mataram album; and also in Ussele Ussele, the album by Srinivas, in which Kalyani and P Unnikrishnan sang Gopalakrishna Bharathi’s 'Eppo Varuvaaro'.

The Tamil Nadu Government had honoured her with Kalaimamani, the highest civilian award.

Kalyani had made a brief appearance in her son Rajiv Menon's 2000 film 'Kandukondain Kandukondain' as Aishwarya Rai’s music tutor.

Apart from Rajiv, she is survived by another son Karun Menon who is an Indian Railway Accounts Service officer.