Playback singer P Jayachandran.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Thiruvananthapuram: Renowned Malayali playback singer P Jayachandran died at Thrissur in Kerala on Thursday. He was 80.
Jayachandran, who had sung around 16,000 songs, died after collapsing in his house at Thrissur district in the evening.
Though he was rushed to hospital, life could not be saved. He was unwell for quite some time and was under treatment.
His funeral will be performed at his house at Chendamangalam on the suburbs of Kochi on Saturday. He is survived by wife Lalitha, one daughter and one son.
Incidentally, Jayachandran who got noticed as a singer in the late 1950s through the Kerala state school youth festivals, which is considered as one of the largest cultural gatherings in Asia, breathed his last a day after the culmination of the 63rd school youth festival.
Apart from Malayalam, Jayachandran had also sung Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi songs. He sung around 15 Kannada songs which include 'Jeevana Sanjeevana' for the film Hanthakana sanchu and 'Chanda Chanda' for the film Maanasa sarovara. He had also sung devotional songs in Malayalam and Tamil. He has left behind many evergreen Malayalam film songs.
Jayachandran won national film award for best male playback singer in 1985 for the song 'Sivasankara sarva saranya vibho' from the film Sree Narayana Guru.
He won Kerala state film awards four times - in 1972 for the song "Neelagiriyude' for Malayalam film Panitheeratha Veedu, in 1978 for the song 'Ragam sreeragam' from the film 'Bandhanam', in 1998 for the song 'Prayamnammil' from the film Niram and in 2015 for his song 'Njnanoru malayali' in the film Jilebi and the song 'Sharadambaram' in the film Ennu ninte moideen.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar condoled the death of Jayachandran.