Playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam's life in photos

Legendary playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, whose magical and deep rich voice gave life to thousands of songs that mesmerised millions of music lovers transcending borders and languages, passed away on Friday after losing a 52-day long battle against the novel coronavirus. Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (74), who is survived by his wife Savitri, son S P B Charan, and daughter Pallavi, got himself admitted to MGM Healthcare here on August 5 after he tested positive for Covid-19. Here's a glimpse of his life in photographs:

S P Balasubrahmanyam singing for cancer patients aid programme organised by Sri Shankara Cancer Hospital at Sophia's Auditorium in Bengaluru in 2012. Credit: DH Archive/Ranju P

Born into an orthodox Brahmin family in Konetammapettai, 120 km from here, in the then Chittoor district of the Madras Presidency and the present-day Tamil Nadu in 1946, SPB took to singing at a young age and had recorded over 40,000 songs in 14 languages, including all South Indian languages, and Hindi. Credit: DH Archive

S P Bala Subramanyam performing at the Parisara Dasara programme of Deesi Dibba and Hadu Habba organised by Nivarana Samste at National college Basavanagudi in Bengaluru in 2007. Credit: DH Archive/Srikanta Sharma R

Playback singer S P Balasubramanyam lends an ear to Kolada Mutt seer Shantaveera Mahaswamiji as the Governor T N Chaturvedi looks on, before he was conferred the Govind Lakshmi Puraskar at the valedictory of Saraswati Sangeet Vidyalaya's Amrut Mahotsav at Town Hall in Bengaluru in 2005. Credit: DH Archive

The legendary singer inaugurating Pranayaraja Prema Geetegalu event in Bengaluru in 2007. Credit: DH Archive

Balasubramaniam performing at KSLTA stadium in Cubbon Park during the fund raising concert for CTC Sanjeevini in Bengaluru in 2005. Credit: DH Photo/Nagesh Polali

Balasubramanyam and Manjula Gururaj during the Kannada film Chandramukhi Pranasakhi recording. Credit: DH/PV Archives

Known popularly as SPB or Balu, his stint in the Indian film industry spanning over 50 years is unparalleled as the legend basked in the glory of his captivating songs by bagging six national awards and being honoured with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2001 and 2011, respectively. Credit: DH Archive

A multi-faceted personality, SPB was not just a playback singer but also an actor, music director and a dubbing artist. During the later part of this career, the legendary singer was also seen on the small screen as a judge or host of many music shows with the advent of private television channels. Credit: DH Archive