Legendary veteran singer S.P Balasubrahmanyam passed away today at the age of 74.
The playback singer had been at MGM Healthcare in Chennai since August 5 after he had tested Covid-19 positive.
As per Indian Express, a statement from the hospital read, “Thiru S P Balasubrahmanyam had been admitted at MGM Healthcare on August 5th and commenced on life support measures since August 14th for severe COVID-19 pneumonia. He continued to be closely monitored by our multidisciplinary team in the critical care unit. He tested negative for COVID-19 on September 4th. 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 25th 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.”
A six-time national award winner, Balasubrahmanyam, who had sung over 40,000 songs, was also honoured with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011.
He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter. Announcing the death of SPB, his son and filmmaker S P Charan told reporters that his father’s songs would live forever in the hearts of his fans.
The celebrated singer had crooned popular Bollywood songs like ‘Mere Rang Mein Rangne Wali’, ‘Pehla Pehla Pyar Hai’, ‘Tere Mere Beech Mein’ and ‘Mere Jeevan Saathi’ to name a few.
As the nation mourned the loss of the legend, PM Modi also took to Twitter to express his sadness.
Music Maestro A.R Rahman too offered his condolences.
Celebs like Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn also paid respects to the legend.
May he rest in peace!