SP Balasubrahmanyam
SP Balasubrahmanyam Image credit: Livemint

Legendary playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away at a private hospital at 1.04 pm in Chennai on Friday. He was 74.

The legendary singer was hospitalised in August at MGM Healthcare after testing positive for COVID-19.

Even though he reportedly did well initially, he took a turn for the worse and was put on a ventilator and ECMO support.

The singer tested negative for COVID-19 on September 7, however, he continued to be on a ventilator.

Popularly known as SPB, Balasubrahmanyam made his singing début 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.

The late singer was also a voice-over artist and he lent his voice to 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.