Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam succumbed to coronavirus on Friday. The 74 year old was admitted to Chennai's MGM Healthcare in early August after testing positive for the virus. He tested negative for Covid-19 on September 5. The news of his death came as a shock to celebrities across India. Music maestro AR Rahman, singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle mourned his death, as did Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
SPB or Balu, the legendary playback singer boasted of a singing career of more than half a century. A Guinness record holder for singing the highest number of songs, SPB has sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages. He sang first in his mother tongue Telugu. SPB's voice dominated the radio, or TV during the 70s and 80s as the audience remained mesmerised with his melodious songs for more than 54 years.
Widely regarded as one of India's finest playback singers, SPB has been awarded a bevy of accolades and awards throughout his music career. He has been conferred with the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer six times; recipient of the coveted Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the Government of India. Besides this, he also won numerous Filmfare and state awards over the years.
Apart from being a phenomenal vocalist, SPB has also made brief stints as an actor, music director and producer. As a playback singer, he is most remembered for lending his voice to Salman Khan in his early films - 'Maine Pyar Kiya', 'Saajan', 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' to name a few.
SPB buried with full state honours
The mortal remains of SPB was laid to rest with police honours at his farmhouse near Chennai on Saturday. Earlier in the day, hundreds of people stood in a long queue to pay homage to the singer as well as celebrities from the movie world at the farm house. The singer's family performed the last rites. The mortal remains were brought to the farmhouse on Friday evening. A large number of people gathered at his residence to have a last glimpse of the singer and pay their respects.
Later in the evening, his body was taken in a van to his farmhouse at Thamaraipakkam. Enroute several people stood on the pavement and bade SPB a tearful goodbye. On August 5, in a Facebook post, the 74-year-old SPB said that he was suffering from a very mild attack of coronavirus and had got himself hospitalised to take a rest.
He had said that though the doctors had advised him to stay at home and take a rest, he decided to be in a hospital, as at home his family members would get concerned. SPB hoped to get discharged from the hospital in two days. But it was not to be.
