S. P. Balasubrahmanyam

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was a veteran Indian musician, playback singer, television anchor, music director, actor, dubbing artist, and film producer. He has won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his works in four different languages – Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. According to some sources, he held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 40,000 songs.

About S. P. Balasubrahmanyam in brief

Summary S. P. BalasubrahmanyamSripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was a veteran Indian musician, playback singer, television anchor, music director, actor, dubbing artist, and film producer. He has won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his works in four different languages – Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. According to some sources, he held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 40,000 songs. He was a recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan from the Government of India. He died in Chennai from post COVID-19 complications on 25 September 2020. His son S. P. Charan is also a popular South Indian singer, actor and producer. The first non-Telugu song that he recorded just eight days after his debut Telugu song was in 1966 for the film Nakkare Ade Swarga, starring T. R. Narasimharaju. He recorded his first Tamil song with S. Devarajan in Adimaippennai Ramachandran, Janadal Kadalajan, in 1969. His first Malayalam song was with Gannesh Kannan in the film Shanti Shanti Nilayam, starring Gemini Ganesh, in 1973.

He made his debut as a playback singer on 15 December 1966 with Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, a Telugu film scored by his mentor, S.  P. Kodandapani. In 2012, he received the state NTR National Award for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2016, he was honoured with the Silver Peacock Medal as Indian Film Personality of the Year. He had two brothers and five sisters, including singer S. P. Sailaja. His father was a Harikatha artist who also acted in plays, and his mother was Sakunthalamma, who died on 4 February 2019. He continued to pursue music during his engineering studies and won awards at singing competitions. In 1964, he won the first prize in a music competition for amateur singers organized by the Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organization. He discontinued his studies early due to typhoid and joined as an associate member the Institution of Engineers, Chennai.