Former MP and President of Students and Youth for Thiruvalluvar Tarun Vijay hailed SP Balasubrahmanyam as a living Sangeetha Thirtham (a pilgrim centre of music) as the playback singer passed away on September 25.
Paying homage to the legendary singer, Tarun Vijay said that generations would be ever indebted to him for his music.
Tarun Vijay who is also known as ‘Tamil’ Tarun Vijay for his immense passion towards Tamil and Thiruvalluvar said that SPB lived following the ideals of Saint Thiruvalluvar in his life by being humble and simple.
“Music will never be the same again. My salutations to him and deep felt homage.” Mr. Tarun Vijay said.
SP Balasubrahmanyam fondly called as SPB who had given numerous numbers for people to hum across generations breathed his last on September 25, 2020 at 01:04 PM.
He was admitted to the MGM Health Care hospital upon testing positive for the Wuhan virus.
However, his health had deteriorated and was shifted to the intensive care unit. On September 7, he had tested negative for the Wuhan virus but remained on ventilator support. He was kept on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for the past few days.
SPB had sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages. He holds the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer. He made his debut as a playback singer in 1966 with the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna.
He has won several awards including the Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the Government of India.
He had donated his ancestral house in Nellore to the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in the presence of Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swami on February 11, 2020 for running a Veda Patasala.