Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam dies at 74

Multiple National award-winning singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, who had been hospitalized since August 5 after he tested positive for the coronavirus, died on Friday at MGM Health Care hospital in Chennai.

Multiple National award-winning singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, who had been hospitalized since August 5 after testing positive for the coronavirus, died on Friday at MGM Health Care hospital in Chennai at the age of 74, his son has said. “SPB belongs to everyone. He will live on in his songs. My dad passed away at 1.04 pm,” he told reporters.

SP Balasubrahmanyam has passed away at the age of 74.

After showing signs of recovery over the last few weeks, his health deteriorated. A medical bulletin from the hospital said “he was on extreme life support” on Thursday. SPB, as he was fondly called, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. “In a further setback this morning, despite maximal life support measures and the best efforts of the clinical team, his condition deteriorated further and he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. With profound grief, we regret to inform that he has passed away on September 25. at 13:04 Hours. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, well-wishers and admirers at their loss during this time of anguish and sorrow,” the hospital said in a statement.

A legend, Balasubrahmanyam gave his voice to thousands of songs spanning across languages and genres. Winner of six National awards, he sang from actors ranging from MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Salman Khan.His fans had given him the title of Paadum Nila (Singing Moon).

Here is the hospital’s statement:

Last week, Balasubrahmanyam’s son SP Charan said that his father was showing signs of recovery. He confirmed he even tested negative for the coronavirus.

Charan had tweeted: “Dad is stable and is continuing physio. Ecmo and ventilator continue to be on but hopefully for not long. Thanks to the team of doctors from #MGMHealthcare and all of you who have been praying for him (sic).”

“We were expecting dad’s lungs to improve, as they were, to a certain point where we could remove the ventilator. Unfortunately, we are still not at that. But the good news is dad is COVID negative,” Charan said in a video note.

Over the last few weeks, several members of the Tamil film fraternity came together to pray for the speedy recovery of the legendary singer. A mass prayer was organised in which several Tamil celebrities prayed for SPB’s recovery while playing one of his songs.

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