SP Balasubrahmanyam passes away: Golden Voice hushes out

Veteran playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam aka SPB, battling the novel coronavirus since last month, passed away on 25 September. He was 74. The veteran on September 7 2020, tested negative for the coronavirus, although he remained on a ventilator. The singer gave a 52- day long battle which he lost to death on September 25.

Taking to Twitter, Director Venkat Prabhu, who is close to SP Charan and his family, shared SPB's death news. Balasubrahmanyam breathed his last at 1:04 pm on Friday.

MGM Healthcare Hospital, where the veteran singer was admitted, has released a statement about SPB's death. "With profound grief, we regret to inform that S P Balasubrahmanyam had passed away on September 25 at 13:04 hours. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, well-wishers and admirers," read their statement.

SP Balasubrahmanyam is survived by wife Savitri and his two kids, Pallavi and SP Charan. The Veteran playback singer's last rites will be performed by his son, Charan.

Born into an orthodox Brahmin family in Konetammapettai, in the then Chittoor district of the Madras Presidency and the present-day Tamil Nadu in 1946, SPB took to singing at a young age and had recorded over 40,000 songs in 14 languages, including all South Indian languages, and Hindi. He made Madras (now Chennai) his home.

Known popularly as SPB or Balu, his stint in the Indian film industry spanning over 50 years is unparalleled as the legend basked in the glory of his captivating songs by bagging six national awards and being honoured with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2001 and 2011, respectively.

Though he sang in hundreds of Tamil movies, he won the national award for only one song in the language,but received three in Telugu one each in Hindi and Kannada. A multi-faceted personality, SPB was not just a playback singer but also an actor, music director and a dubbing artist as well. During the later part of this career, the legendary singer was also seen on the small screen as a judge or host of many music shows with the advent of private television channels. Actors left the stage, music composers bid adieu, and generations changed, but SPB’s voice never faded away from the silver screen for five decades – he had worked with legends like M S Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, Ilaiyaraaja, and A R Rahman and even with young music composers whose age would just be half his experience as a playback singer.

From legends N T Ramarao to M G Ramachandran to the Kannada thespian Rajkumar to their successors in the South Indian film industry like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal and Mamooty -- there is no actor to whom SPB had not lent his voice in songs.

His voice was so delightful that many movies owed major part of their success to songs in it, especially the ones in which SPB worked with his long-time friend and legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja.

In the Tamil cinema world, SPB was synonymous with Rajinikanth as he invariably lent his voice to much of his introductory songs in films that would send the cinema halls into raptures. Same was the case with Kamal Haasan. Rendering his voice to 40,000 songs in 14 languages, especially Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, SPB ruled the hearts of millions of fans for decades together.

A gifted singer, SPB’s vocal range, his deep rich voice, and the mastery style of delivery hypnotised millions of fans across the country and the diaspora who healed their wounds with his exquisite rendition. He also travelled far and wide entertaining lakhs of Indian diaspora by taking his music straight to them.

A workaholic who breathed music and singing for the most part of his illustrious life, SPB was a devout and dedicated singer who had enormous respect for his co-singers, especially seniors – he and his wife performed ‘padha pooja’ on another legendary playback K J Yesudas on the latter completing 50 years in Indian cinema as ‘guru dakshana’.

The Yesudas-SPB duo stood out among numerous singers who dotted the industry through their enchanting voice and brilliant chemistry that worked so beautifully on the screen. Besides Yesudas, SPB had worked with legends in Hindi playback singing Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, P Susheela and S Janaki.

The man, who ruled the cultural landscape in all four southern states of Tamil Nadu, united Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka for decades together had also sung for a record number of songs in a day. He had recorded 21 songs in Kannada for Upendra Kumar in just 12 hours in Bangalore in 1981, 19 songs in Tamil, and 16 songs in Hindi in a day.

SPB, whose father S P Sambamurthy was a well-known exponent of Harikatha, took keen interest in learning music and his first performance was in 1964 at the age of 18. And there was no looking back for him as SPB’s formal singing career in films began in 1966 with Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, music for which was scored by his mentor S P Kodandapani.

His friendship with Ilaiyaraaja, who is elder to him in age, is also legendary but it hit a raw nerve a couple of years back when the music composer objected to singing of his songs in concerts without paying royalty to him. However, they patched up in 2019.

A short trivia on legend SP Balasubrahmanyam:

SPB held Guinness World Record for highest number of songs by a singer.

He dubbed for actors. Over the years, he turned an actor, producer, and a music composer.

He won six National Awards. He also won two civilian awards Padhma Shri in 2001, Padma Bhushan in 2011.

SPB had earlier worked as a singer, actor, music director, dubbing artist and film producer in several languages. He was a multi-talented person. Throughout his career that spanned for over five decades, SPB had recorded more than 40,000 songs in several languages.

As the news of SPB’s death spread like a wild fire, Celebs and fans took to social media to express their grief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, "With the unfortunate demise of Shri SP Balasubrahmanyam, our cultural world is a lot poorer. A household name across India, his melodious voice and music enthralled audiences for decades. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti."

Condoling the demise of legendary musician, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said, "I am shocked to learn of the tragic demise of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam whom I have known for a number of decades. It is truly an irreparable loss to the world of music and a deeply emotional moment for me personally. I pay me reverential homage to this legendary musician whom I have had the pleasure of knowing so closely. I pray to the Almighty to give his family the strength to cope with this most unexpected loss.”

Anil Kapoor said, "Great human being and an incredible singer...lucky to have had him dub for me...give his voice to my performances in my first Telugu and Kannada film...SP Balasubrahmanyam will be missed truly...my heartfelt condolences & prayers to the family..."

South music composer Harris Jayaraj wrote, "Oh, God! My heart is broken to pieces along with crores of music lovers hearing his demise. But, I may get back only by the songs he left for us. My condolences to families, Friends of #SPBalasubrahmanyam Garu."

The death of this legend has caused a void in the hearts of his fans, a vacuum in the industry that shall remain vacant for years to come. His charismatic smiling face may not be seen henceforth, but his melodious voice shall linger on for long!

Om Shanti!