Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away at 1:04 pm, in Chennai today. He was 74. The veteran singer had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been admitted to the hospital on August 5. Although he was deemed critical at the time, he had slowly started improving and had started to gain consciousness. SPB fans had been pouring in ‘get well soon’ messages ever since the veteran singer SP Balasubrahmanyam was on a ventilator in August.
While his health started to improve in the last few weeks, the hospital authorities issued an official statement that his health deteriorated in the last 24 hours, calling it “extremely critical.” As per the official statement, it read, “Thiru SP Balasubrahmanyam remains on ECMO and other life support measures. His condition in the last 24 hours has deteriorated further warranting maximal life support and he is extremely critical. The team of experts at MGM Healthcare is closely monitoring his health condition.”
SP Balasubrahmanyam was born on June 4, 1946, and is a legendary Indian musician, singer, music director, actor, and film producer in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam film industries. He is known to have recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages and apparently holds the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer. SPB was awarded the Padma Shri in 2001 by the Government of India and is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Besides singing in movies across 16 languages including Tamil, Telugu Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi, SP Balasubrahmanyam also played significant roles in many films. His major movies include Keladi Kanmani (1990), Thiruda Thiruda (1993), Kadhalan (1994), Ullaasam (1996), and others.
In a career spanning over five decades, SPB won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and 25 Nandi Awards. The Government of India honored the singer-actor with Padma Shri in 2001 Padma Bhushan in 2011. May his soul rest in peace.
