S P Balasubrahmanyam, thanks for the music

New Delhi:

Singer S P Balasubrahmanyam died in a hospital in Chennai where he was taken after testing positive for COVID-19. He was 74 years old. Mr. Balasubrahmanyam, beloved for his distinctive baritone voice, has had a long and prolific career, singing 40,000 songs in 16 languages. On August 5, he was taken to hospital and posted a video in which he said he was “perfectly fine” and expected to be released soon. On August 14, a day after confirming that Mr. Balasubrahmanyam’s symptoms were mild and that he was stable, the hospital said his condition worsened and he was put on life support. Although he tested negative for the virus three weeks later, SP Balasubrahmanyam could not be removed from the ventilator and on Thursday the hospital said his health had deteriorated and he was on life support. maximum. His son S P Charan announced on Friday that he died shortly after 1 p.m.

S P Balasubrahamnyam was born in Nellore on June 4, 1946. His father was a stage actor and Harikatha artist – a traditional form of storytelling in South India. Mr. Balasubrahmanyam’s sister, S P Sailaja, also became a singer like him. However, his first chosen career was in engineering. SPB, as Mr. Balasubrahmanyam became known to his fans, won several music competitions while studying engineering, eventually retiring from academics and a music career.

S P Balasubrahmanyam made his reading debut in 1966 in the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. In just a few short years, SPB has become the most in-demand artist in the southern film industry, singing in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and often recording multiple songs in a single day. By 1970 he had sung for the main movie stars of the time – MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan. Two actors had the distinction of having SPB as their singing voice in many films, perhaps most – Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. It was almost customary for SPB to sing the title song of Rajinikanth’s films, from My Name Is Billa to Billa to Balleilakka to Sivaji.Kamal Haasan tweeted that for years S P Balasubrahmanyam had been his voice and he had been the face of SPB. SPB also doubled for Kamal Haasan in the Telugu version of his films.

S P Balasubrahmanyam also worked closely with many composers, but no more than Ilaiyaraaja, with whom he shared an association before becoming a professional musician, and with To R Rahman, including the hit soundtrack for Roja had three songs sung by SPB – the first of many to follow.

S P Balasubrahmanyam won his first national award for best male singer for the 1980 film Sankarabharanam; the following year he won a second national award for his work on his Hindi debut, Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Four other national awards followed.

In 1989, S P Balasubrahmanyam sang for Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya – he sang for Salman in several subsequent films, including Hum Aapke Hain Koun, and became identified as the “voice of Salman” just as he was associated with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in the south.

There was no slowdown from S P Balasubrahmanyam. He last sang in films such as Darbar and Disco Raja who came out early this year and reunited with Ilaiyaraaja for the next Thamezharasan.

S P Balasubrahmanyam was also an actor and producer, as well as a voice actor – he doubled for Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Anil Kapoor and other stars. SPB has received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, in addition to its numerous awards.

S P Balasubrahmanyam is survived by his wife Savitri, his daughter Pallavi and his son S P B Charan, also singer and producer.