Noted playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, popularly known as SPB, has been put on life support at a Chennai hospital after his condition turned critical on Thursday night.
According to a bulletin by MGM Healthcare, SPB was admitted to the hospital on August 5 due to Covid-19 symptoms and was moved to the ICU after his condition deteriorated. “He is on life support and his condition remains critical,” the bulletin stated.
The 74-year-old singer is under observation by a team of experts and his hemodynamic and clinical parameters were being closely monitored, the bulletin further stated.
SPB, who has sung over 40,000 songs in 16 languages, most of them as a playback singer in all South Indian languages and in Hindi, has been the recipient of six national awards. He has dubbed for top actors including Ben Kingsley for the Telugu version of ‘Gandhi’ and has also acted in a dozen Tamil and Telugu films.
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He has sung the most number of times under Ilayaraaja’s baton and the two had a brief falling out in 2018 after the music composer raised issues of SPB singing in stage shows without paying royalty for his songs. Subsequently, they patched up and the singer sang for Ilayaraaja’s 75th birthday concert.
Actors, singers and musicians from the film industry took to social media to wish the singer a quick recovery. The singer had put out a video message for his fans after getting admitted to the hospital with coronavirus symptoms.
