S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Indian singer with huge repertory, dies at 74

S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, an Indian singer who delivered songs for more than 1,000 movies in a smooth and vibrant voice and in a multitude of regional languages, died Sept. 25 in Chennai, India. He was 74.

The cause was complications of COVID-19, according to a statement from MGM Healthcare, where he had been hospitalized.

His death drew tributes from many prominent musicians, politicians and actors on social media. “With the unfortunate demise of Shri S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, our cultural world is a lot poorer,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India wrote on Twitter.

Balasubrahmanyam, better known as “S.P.B.” or “Balu” to his fans, was a major presence as a playback singer, who sings tunes that are later lip-synced by actors in India’s movie musicals, during a career that spanned more than four decades. His best-known songs were in the languages of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

“I often sit with the lyricists and ask them what they meant to convey so that I get the emotional crux of the song,” he once said in a newspaper interview about having to be expressive in so many languages. “If I think I cannot pronounce something well, I opt out of the song.”

Balasubrahmanyam was also a music producer and character actor. He won the National Film Award, one of the country’s most prestigious entertainment prizes, six times. He also received two of India’s top civilian honors: the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma

Bhushan in 2011.

Sr ipathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was born June 4, 1946, in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, a state in southeastern India. His father, S.P. Sambamurthy, was a singer and stage actor, and his mother, Sakunthalamma, was a homemaker.

Ba la subrahmanyam once said he became a singer by accident. He was studying engineering in college when he won a singing competition, which opened doors for him in the Telugu-language film industry as a playback singer. His first movie performance came in 1966.

Encouraged by his initial success, he went on to perform in a band with other musicians, including Ilayaraja, who himself went on to become wellknown. He broke into Bollywood in 1981. Later in his career, Balasubrahmanyam often collaborated with composer A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars for his work on “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008).

Balasubrahmanyam also often spoke of the inspiration he received from Mohammed Rafi, one of the most popular Indian singers in the 1950s and ’60s. “I was so bewildered by the talent with which he was singing,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel in 2019.

He is survived by his w ife, Sav itr i Ba la sub - rahmanyam; his daughter, Pallavi Balasubrahmanyam; his son, S. P. B. Charan; and two grandchildren.