Renowned Singer SPB dies at 74 while battling covid-19

Renowned playback singer S.P. Balasubramanyam died when he was 74, at MGM hospital in Chennai at 1:04 P.m today after battling Covid-19 for so long.

Balasubramanyam was hospitalised in August at MGM Healthcare after testing positive for COVID-19. It’s known that his son Sp Charan was giving updates about his dad’s health condition every now and then. On September 7, Charan had announced that his father had finally tested negative for COVID-19 and that he was about to recuperate.

However, recent news suggested that Balasubramanyam’s health is deteriorating due to lung infection and he is still on ventilator, which came as a shocker to many of his fans across the world. Prayers were always being conveyed to him consistently. But it seemed to turn futile.

On September 7, he tested negative for COVID-19. Nonethless continued to be on ventilator. He was reported to have seemingly recovered initially, but things took an ugly turn and was continuously put on a ventilator and ECMO support since then.

Famously known as SPB or Paadum Nila, Balasubramanyam made his play back singing debut in 1966 with Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. He rendered voice for over 40,000 songs in as many as 16 languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi. SPB bagged first national award for his graceful and finest singing in ‘Shankarabharanam’.

Balasubramanyam is not only known for singing but also for his multifacetedness as an actor and also a voice-over artist.

He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter — both are playback singers. Our Telugubulletin team wish to convey deepest condolences to his family.