Legendary playback singer and songwriter, actor and producer, SP Balasubrahmanyam, passed away in a Chennai hospital on September 25, 2020, after a vigorous fight against COVID-19 disease. The singer-songwriter who dominated the film industries of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Mumbai (Bollywood) for more than five decades tested positive on August 5, 2020 and has been hospitalized ever since. Although the artist was well in the initial stage, serious complications subsequently developed and he was placed on a ventilator and ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support. He tested negative for COVID-19 on September 7, 2020, but as his respiratory problems persisted, he continued on ventilator support and ECMO. His condition became extremely critical in the last two days and finally the music legend had to relent. He was 74 years old.

Born into a Telugu family in Tamil Nadu in 1946 and raised primarily in Andhra Pradesh, SP Balasubrahmanyam, better known as ‘SPB’ or ‘Balu’, showed a keen interest in music from an early age, and over the years he began to sing. in various local contests winning prizes all the time. He made his debut as a playback singer for a Telugu film in 1966, where the music was provided by his musical mentor SP Kodandopani. Within days, he made his debut as a Kannada playback singer and broke into Tamil films in 1969, and then the Malayalam film industry in the same year. SPB’s illustrious and spectacular musical journey began: he became the voice of legendary South Indian actors such as Gemini Ganesan, MG Ramchandran (MGR), NT Rama Rao (NTR), Shivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan, for whom he also sang for Hindi movies. , Rajnikant and then Bollywood superheroes from Salman Khan to Shahrukh Khan.

Balasubrahmanyam achieved international fame singing for the unforgettable Telugu film Sankarabharanam in 1980, directed by K Vishwanath. Balu was never trained in classical music, particularly in the Carnatic style; but nevertheless, he made history by adapting his singing aesthetic to suit the character of a classical music lead in the film. SPB won his first National Award for Best Male Playback Singer in this film. The following year, namely 1981, he took the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, by storm: he sang melodious numbers for Kamal Hassan in the blockbuster film ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye‘, a remake of an original Telugu film, for which he won his second national award for Best Hindi Male Playback Singer. And SPB became the most sought after voice in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films with musical directors ranging from the legendary Ilaiyaraaja, S Janaki, KV Mahadevan to AR Rahman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, RD Burman, Ram-Laxman , Anand-Milind et al.

In a career spanning more than five decades, SPB sang over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages. He had won 6 national awards for his singing reproduction in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi; won 6 Filmfare awards for southern zone; he was conferred padma sri in 2001 and padma bhushan in 2011; he was honored with ‘Indian Movie Personality of the Year’ in 2016; and many other state awards from its four southern states. For a personality of his stature, the list of national awards seemed to be fewer in number, which is largely due to the fact that the ‘domestic’ or Bollywood Hindi film industry enjoyed much greater reach, visibility, popularity and patronage. throughout the country and thus, many South Indian legendary greats had to be mostly content with state recognition.

SP Balasubrahmanyam is perhaps the only Indian playback singer who has enjoyed five decades of fame without a plateau with a following across India and the world, regardless of language barriers. His greatness lay in his delightfully melodious yet manly voice, his immense dexterity of natural modulations, his intrinsic ability to perform with the required emotions, and his innate talent for adapting his singing style as it suits the characters/heroes of the films through. of five majors and many other languages, as the legendary Mohammad Rafi naturally did from the 1940s until his passing in 1980. Incidentally, Rafi had been his model singer and true guru throughout his career, always loving the icon. from Hindi film song. Perhaps for this reason he thrived in Bollywood for much longer than other singers from the southern region like Yesudas and Vani Jayram. Of course, he too had a break of some 15 years from Bollywood, returning only in 2013 to sing for Shahrukh Khan in the blockbuster movie. chennai express. However, the great artist continued to sing-compose in southern languages ​​until his last days.

We salute the great musician and mourn his tragic passing, with the entire nation, as messages of condolence have been pouring in from movie personalities, politicians, leaders, stalwarts in all professional fields, and his millions of fans. Apart from his singing style, Balu has always been loved by everyone for his simplicity, his adorable interactions with the public, his communication through the media and his bright jovial nature.