Musical Tribute
Veteran playback singer SP Balasubramaniam passed away on 25th September 2020 at a Chennai hospital. Balasubramaniam, popularly known as SPB, was admitted to MGM Healthcare on August 5 for Covid-19, and had been on life support due to his extremely critical condition in the last few days. Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as S. P. B. or Balu, was an Indian musician, playback singer, television anchor, music director, actor, dubbing artist, and film producer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam films.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest singers of India, He won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singerfor his works in four different languages; Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi; 25 Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for his work in Telugu cinema, and numerous other state awards from Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu. In addition, he won the Filmfare Award, and six Filmfare Awards South.According to some sources, he held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 40,000 songs. He recorded 21 songs in Kannada for the composer Upendra Kumar in Bengaluru from 9 am to 9 pm on 8 February 1981. In addition, he recorded 19 songs in Tamil and 16 songs in Hindi in a day, which has also been called a record. In 2012, he received the state NTR National Award for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2016, he was honoured with the Silver Peacock Medal as Indian Film Personality of the Year He was a recipient of the Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the Government of India.
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam was born in Nellore, Madras Presidency (present-day Andhra Pradesh) into a Telugu Brahminfamily.His father, S. P. Sambamurthy, was a Harikatha artist who also acted in plays.His mother was Sakunthalamma, who died on 4 February 2019. His son S. P. Charan is also a popular South Indian singer, actor and producer. Balasubrahmanyam developed an interest in music at an early age, studied musical notations, and learned music. He enrolled at the JNTU College of Engineering Anantapur with the intention of becoming an engineer. He discontinued his studies early due to typhoid and joined as an associate member the Institution of Engineers, Chennai. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam continued to pursue music during his engineering studies and won awards at singing competitions. In 1964, he won the first prize in a music competition for amateur singers organized by the Madrasbased Telugu Cultural Organization. He was the leader of a light music troupe composed of Anirutta (on the harmonium), Ilaiyaraaja (on guitar and later on harmonium), Baskar (on percussion) and Gangai Amaran (on guitar)He was selected as the best singer in a singing competition which was judged by S. P. Kodandapani and Ghantasala. Often visiting music composers seeking opportunities, his first audition song was "Nilave Ennidam Nerungadhe". It was rendered by veteran playback singer P. B. Srinivas, who used to write and give him multi-lingual verses in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, English and Urdu.
Earlier this month, the singer's filmmaker-son SP Charan had said that his father had tested negative for Covid-19 but continues to be on ventilator. He had been hospitalised with “mild” symptoms of Covid-19 almost two months ago. He had shared the news in a video post on Facebook.
The 74-year-old sang over 40,000 songs in a career spanning nearly 55 years. The news led to an outpour of tributes and condolences on social media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "our cultural world is a lot poorer" with the unfortunate demise of Shri SP Balasubrahmanyam.