Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), commonly known as SPB or Balu, S. P. Balasubramaniam, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer.[7] He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian singers of all time.[11] He predominantly worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films and sang in a total of 16 languages.[12]
Balasubrahmanyam was born into a family with a strong musical background in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. Despite initially pursuing engineering, his passion for music led him to a successful career in playback singing, starting with his debut in the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna in 1966, composed by his mentor, S. P. Kodandapani.[13] Over his career, he received six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his performances in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi, along with 25 Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for his work in Telugu cinema. Additionally, he was honoured various state awards from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments,[14] four Filmfare Awards South and a Filmfare Award.[15] According to some sources, he held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 50,000 songs in 16 languages.[18] On 8 February 1981, he set a record by recording 27 songs in Kannada in a single day, along with 19 songs in Tamil and 16 in Hindi, which has also been called a record.[13]
^"Devotional Songs". The Hindu. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2022. Mr. Balasubrahmanyam was addressing a function at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam on Saturday after receiving the Harivarasanam Award instituted by the State government.