SP Balasubrahmanyam's journey in Kannada cinema

The demise of legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, which has saddened his fans across India, has created a huge void in the hearts of people in Karnataka as well. The 74-year-old six-time National Award winner is a household name in the state with the thousands of Kannada songs to his credit.

“I would like to be reborn in Karnataka,” the singer said at an event in Moodbidri in 2015. He had also expressed joy at having sung for Dr Rajkumar in Muddina Maava. 

Balasubrahmanyam’s first song in Kannada, Kanasido Nanasido, was for composer M Ranga Rao in 1967's Nakkare Ade Swarga.

The singer, who holds the Guinness World Record for singing maximum playback songs in a day, lent his voice to three generations of actors, including Anant Nag, Srinath, Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Shivarajkumar, Ravichandran, Darshan, Puneeth Rajkumar, Sudeep, Yash, and Ganesh. 

SPB’s last Kannada song was for the film Mayabazar 2016, made under Puneeth Rajkumar’s PRK productions.

Besides being a good singer, music director and dubbing artiste, Balasubrahmanyam was also a great actor. He acted in 79 films, out of which 10 were in Kannada. His music show, Ede Tumbi Haduvenu, on ETV was a huge big hit. He has rendered songs for almost all the music directors, and had numerous hit numbers with composers like Ilayaraaja, Hamsalekha, MS Vishwanathan, MM Keeravani, and AR Rahman.