Hyderabad: Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away in Chennai on Friday at 1.04 pm, his family announced. The 74-year old singer was undergoing treatment at Chennai-based MGM Healthcare Hospital from August 5 after testing positive for COVID-19.
He had been on life support from August 14, when his condition became critical. The singer’s son then revealed that he was responsive to treatment and expressed hope of a complete recovery. But SPB’s health took a turn for the worse on September 24 and he succumbed to the illness.
Popularly known as SPB, Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam made his debut as a singer in 1966 with Telugu movie Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. He has sung over 40,000 songs in as many as 16 languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi. He also scored music for over 45 films.
SPB was also a recepient of the civilian honours Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan from the Indian government, apart from six national awards.
SPB had announced on August 5 that he had contracted COVID-19. He went live on Facebook to announce, rather optimistically, that he only has mild symptoms of the virus and is admitted into the hospital only for the safety of other family members.