Role: Singer, actor, music director and film producer
Birth
S.P.Balasubrahmanyam (Sripathi Panditaradhulya Balasubrahamnayam) was born to S.P Sambamurthy and Sakunthalamma on 4th June 1946 in Nellore of Madras Presidency. He was the second son to his family. He has two brothers and five sisters. His sister S.P Sailaja is also a singer.
Personal life
S.P.Balasubrahmanyam married Savitri. His two children are Pallavi and S.P.B Charan. His son S.P.B Charan is also a playback singer.
Education
Balasubrahmanyam made the registration at the JNTU College of Engineering in Anantapur with the interest to become an engineer. But he cancelled his studies, because of the typhoid. He had learnt the notations and music in his earlier days.
Earlier Life
Later he sang in the music competition arranged by the Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organization and won the first prize in 1964. Then in a singing competition with the judges P.Kodandapani and Ghantasala , Balasubrahamnyam was chosen as the Best Singer. He took part in audition song “Nilave Ennidam Nerungathe”, but it was sung by playback singer P.B Srinivas later.
Singing Career
On 15th December 1966, Balasubrahmanyam made his debut as a playback singer for a Telugu film “SriSriSriMaryadaRamanna” under the music direction of his guide S.P Kodandapani. In the same year, he had sung for the Kannada film “Nakkare Ade Swarga” for which the recording was made in eight days.
In Tamil, he made the recording for the music director MSV for a film that released. In1969, he made his debut in Tamil with the song “Aayiram Nilave Vaa” for the MGR‘s film Adimaippenn. He sang the duet song “IyarkaiEnnumIllayaKanni” with singer P.Susheela for the film “Shanti Nilayam” in the same year.
During the year 1980, S.P Balasubrahmanyam came to worldwide fame with the movie Sankarabharanam. This is one of the best films in Telugu cinema history. In the following year, he has sung for the Hindi film “EkDuujeKeLiye” which was a musical hit. During the late 1970 and 1980, he made more recordings of the Tamil songs under the music of Illayaraaja with his co-singer S.Janaki . Those songs, mostly had the basics of Carnatic music in his recording. For the blockbuster movie “Maine PyarKiya” of Bollywood star Salman Khan, Balasubrahmanyan was the playback singer in the year 1989.
During 1990s, he had sung the songs for the music Directors Vidyasagar, S.A Rajkumar , Deva and M.M.Keeravani. His combination with A.R Rahman in 1990’s, came out as a huge success, than with other music Directors. In 2013, he made the recording of the Chennai Express song in the film “Chennai Express” under the music direction of Vishal-Sekhar for the star actor Shahrukh Khan.
He had sung the songs in many Indian languages. After he came to Chennai, the Tamil posters helped him to attain the fluency in Tamil language.
S. P. Balasubrahamnyam’s other roles
Balasubrahmanyam made dubbing for the KamalHaasan’s film “ManmadhaLeela”, which is the Telugu version of Tamil film ‘ManmadhaLeelai”. He had made the dubbing for many artists like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Salman Khan, Vishnuvardhan, Gemini Ganesan, K.Bhagyaraj, Anil Kapoor, Mohan, Nagesh, Girish Karnad, Arjun Sarja, Raghuvaran and Karthik. He did the lead role and cameo appearance in some of the films. His Tamil film “Keladi Kanmani” in which he took the lead role was the notable one. He was debut as an anchor in a Telugu TV show “Paaduthaa Theeyaga”. Then he was the host in the children singing programme “Paadalanivundhi” which brought on stage the singing talents from Andhra Pradesh.
Records of S. P. Balsubrahmanyam
S.P. Balasubrahmanyam had made recordings for above 38,000 songs within 40 years, that includes the film songs and devotional songs. This is one of the world record, which is going to take place into the Guinness Book of World Records. On 8th February 1981, he made the recording of 21 Kannada songs under the composer Upendra Kumar from 9.00a.m to 9.00p.m in Bangalore which is an achievement. His other records include the recording of 19 Tamil songs in a day and 16 Hindi songs in a day.
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Awards
In 1969, S.P Balasubrahmanyam won his first award “ TamilNadu State Film Award” under the singing category for the Tamil films ‘Adimaippen” and “Shanti Nilayam”.He got the National award for the movie “Sankarabharanam” of 1979. In 1980, he won the TamilNadu State Film Award as a singer for the film “Nizhalgal”. Then in 1981, he won his National Film Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for the song “Tere Mere Beech Mein” from the Hindi film “Ek Duuje Ke Liye”. As a playback singer, he won the Nandi Awards for many times. In 1985, he won the Nandi Award for music Direction for the film “Mayuri”. Later in 1986, his supporting role in the Telugu film “Pavithra Bandham” brought him again the Nandi Award.
Later in 1990, his film “Keladi Kanmani”, in which he took the lead role, brought him the TamilNadu State Film Award under the singing category. In 1994, his singing in the film “Jai Hind” brought him again the TamilNadu State Award. Then in 1996, he had sung the Tamil song “Thanga Thamarai” in the movie “Minsaara Kanavu” that brought him the National Award under the Best singer category.
He won his fourth National Film Award for playback singing for the song “UmanduGhumandu” with the Hindustani classical base from the Kannada film “GanayogiPanchakshariGavayi” in the year 1995. In 2000, as a dubbing artist, he won the Nandi Award for the film “Sri Sai Mahima”. Apart from this, he has also won the Karnataka State film Awards for his singing. In 2001, he won the Padma Shri award from the Government of India. The Government of Karnataka gave him the “Karnataka Rajyothsava Award” in the year 2008. Later, in 2011, he won the Padma Bhusan award, the third highest civilian award from the Government of India. Apart from all these awards, he had won several film fare awards of South. He got the honorary titles from several Universities.