S.P. Balasubrahmanyam succumbs to COVID-19

Legendary playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on 25 September. He was 74.

Balasubrahmanyam was hospitalised in August at MGM Healthcare after testing positive for COVID-19 and while he reportedly did well initially, he took a turn for the worse and was put on a ventilator and ECMO support.

On 4 September he tested negative for COVID-19, but continued to be on the ventilator and ECMO even as he participated in passive physiotherapy.

Popularly known as SPB, Balasubrahmanyam made his singing debut in 1966 with Telugu movie Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. He has sung over 40,000 songs in as many as 16 languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.

Balasubrahmanyam was also a voice-over artist. He was the voice-over artist for actor Kamal Hassan, whenever the latter’s Tamil movies were dubbed in Telugu. Balasubrahmanyam also acted in a few movies. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter — both are playback singers. (The Hindu)