S. P. Balasubrahmanyam

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), commonly known as SPB or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian singers of all time. He worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films and sang in a total of 16 languages. Balasubrahmanyam was born into a Telugu family with a strong musical background in Nellore, Madras Province, British India(present-day Nellore, Andra Pradesh, India). 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. 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, four Filmfare Awards South and a Filmfare Award. 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. On 8 February 1981, he set a record by recording 28 songs in Kannada in a single day, along with 19 songs in Tamil and 16 in Hindi, which has also been called a record. In recognition of his contributions, Balasubrahmanyam received the NTR National Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2012, the Harivarasanam Award from the Government of Kerala in 2015, and was named the Indian Film Personality of the Year at the 47th International Film Festival of India in 2016. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2001, the Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2021. He died on 25 September 2020 in Chennai after complications from COVID-19. S.P Balasubrahmanyam's bronze statue was unveiled by Telangana IT Minister D.Sridhar Babu along with former vice-president of India M.Venkaiah Naidu at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad on 15 December 2025.