Indian Cinema's legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam was posthumously honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.SPB Songs: Presenting the most dynamic and versatile Singer – SPB. The late singer's son SP Charan received the award on his father’s behalf from President Ram Nath Kovind. SPB passed away in September 2020 after COVID-19 complications at the age of 74. The voice artist 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 too. The official Rashtrapati Bhavan Twitter handle shared a photo and wrote, “President Kovind presents Padma Vibhushan to Shri S.P.
One of the leading figures of Indian cinema, particularly the southern Indian movie industry, he was a top-notch playback singer in multiple languages."īalasubrahmanyam is regarded as one of the most respected singing legends of India. He had won six National Film Awards for his works in four different languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. He had recorded 35 songs in a single day, which is also a record. SPB stays in the hearts of the Indian audience by rendering his voice in thousands of timeless songs. President Kovind presents Padma Vibhushan to Shri S.P. One of the leading figures of Indian cinema, particularly the southern Indian movie industry, he was a top-notch playback singer in multiple languages. rendered 40,000 songs in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi among other languages, S P Balasubrahmanyam - ‘SPB’ as he is fondly called - is a singing phenomenon, whose work and talent may be impossible to replicate for generations to come.
His ability to adapt his voice according to the actors, who were lip-synching for his songs, made him the most sought after playback singer in the Kannada film industry. Many believed that he also had an actor hiding in him. His songs for actors Vishnuvardhan, Srinath, Chandrashekhar, Ambareesh, Anant Nag, Shankar Nag, Jaijagadish, Ravichandran, Shivarajkumar and others are Sandalwood’s evergreen chartbusters. In fact, most of these actors believed that their careers were at times defined by the songs sung by SPB. His all-time favourite numbers are ‘Ninna Neenu Maratherenu Sukhavidhe’ from ‘Devara Kannu’, then other hit songs are ‘Elliruve Manava Kaduva Roopasiye’ and ‘Kanasalu Neene, Manasalu Neene’ from ‘Bayalu Daari’. His songs in ‘Naa Ninna Bidalaare’ and ‘Chandanada Gombe’ are evergreen hits. There was unmistakable energy in his voice and that is evident in songs, like ‘Kuchiku Kuchiku’ which talks about strong friendship and featured late actors Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh in ‘Diggajaru’. His rendition of love songs, sung with his contemporaries P Susheela, S Janaki and later with Chitra, such as ‘Devaloka Premaloka’, ‘Ee Sundara’ and ‘O Prema O Prema’ were indeed roaring hits. His duet song ‘Kannu Kannu Ondayithu’ from the film ‘Devara Gudi’ stirs up emotions even today. His songs with S Janaki, such as ‘Soundarya Thumbide’ ‘Naguva Nayana’, ‘Nine Ninnege’ and ‘Baanu Bhoomiya’ just to mention a few were runaway hits. Some of his songs, such as ‘Obbane Obbane Yejamana’, ‘Hey Rukkamma’, ‘Cheluvamma Chendavamma’, ‘Ninagagi Naanu’, ‘Ee Preethiya Marethu’ and ‘Navile’ topped the charts and are among the most-listened-to numbers. His song from ‘Geetha’ - ‘Jothe Jotheyalli Jothe Jotheyalli’ - brought a new wave into Kannada cinema, both for its composition by Ilaiyaraja and the style of rendition. His declared his love for the Kannada language on all forums. In fact, he recorded his first Kannada song for the film ‘Nakkare Ade Swarga’ in 1967 a week later after his debut. He has sung a slew of folk songs and Devaranamas which are hugely popular even to this day.