Singing legend, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam passed away Friday afternoon at the age of 74 in Chennai’s MGM Healthcare Hospital. According to the medical bulletin, the time of death was recorded at 1:04 pm.
He was admitted to the hospital on 5th August with mild symptoms for Covid-19 infection. SPB’s son had released a video on 4 September saying that his father tested negative but he continued to be on the ventilator and ECMO support from 15 August because of severe pneumonia.
Though there was some improvement in his health, he continued to be on life support and Thursday’s bulletin stated that his health condition is extremely critical and he was maximal life support. As per the last bulletin on SPB’s health, it noted that he suffered a Cardio-Respiratory attack despite the treatment by the team of multi-disciplinary doctors.
S.P. Balasubrahmanyam’s body has been taken to his residence at Mahalingapuram in Chennai and is kept for public homage and his family members have confirmed that the final rites will happen at his farmhouse in Thamaraipakkam today.
Even before his body reached his house, thousands of his fans had gathered and paid homage to the veteran singer.
Several leaders and film stars have expressed their condolences on the demise of the legendary singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. The President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EPS, Deputy Chief Minister OPS, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, AR Rahman and several artists have mourned his death.
“With the unfortunate demise of Shri SP Balasubrahmanyam, our cultural world is a lot poorer. A household name across India, his melodious voice and music enthralled audiences for decades. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” PM Modi said in a tweet.
“My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and friends of Mr SP Balasubrahmanyam. His songs touched millions of hearts in many languages. His voice will live on,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also took to Twitter to condole Balasubrahmanyam’s death and said he would forever remain in people’s memories through his melodious voice and unparalleled music compositions.
“Deeply saddened by the passing away of legendary musician and playback singer Padma Bhushan, SP Balasubrahmanyam ji. He will forever remain in our memories through his melodious voice & unparalleled music compositions. My condolences are with his family & followers. Om Shanti,” Shah tweeted.
Tweeting his condolences through a video, Rajnikanth said “people who knew SPB, loved him more than his songs and his voice, because of his human nature, he treated and respected everyone equally irrespective of their age”.
Kamal Haasan called him as his elder brother and said SPB lived as the voice of heroes of four generations and his pride will live for ages.
In an emotional video, Music director Ilayaraja who started his musical journey along with S.P. Balasubramaniam has stated that “he has become speechless and there is no measure to this grief and the earth has become meaningless without him”.
DMK president MK Stalin has urged the TN government to accord full State honours to veteran playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam when his mortal remains are laid to rest today.
Balasubrahmanyam ruled the film industry for at least 5 decades and so far he has sung more than 40,000 songs in at least 16 languages and most of his work coming from the southern languages. So far SPB has been awarded the national award 6 times and numerous other awards for his works.