SP Balasubrahmanyam's demise has left a huge void in all of us, more so for his close circle of friends such as Ilayaraaja, for instance. Ilayaraaja has now paid homage to his dear friend in Tiruvannamalai.
SPB holds the record for recording the highest number of songs in a day. The talented singer had recorded 21 songs in just 12 hours for Kannada composer Upendra Kumar. And the least known fact is that, he was once rejected by a Hindi composer but what happened next was unbelievable as he won a National Award for the song!
Yes, during the music-making process of filmmaker K Balachander’s Kamal Hassan starrer Ek Duje Ke Liye (the Hindi remake of the director’s Telugu film Maro Charitra), composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal were displeased as they felt the “Madrasi” singer (SPB) could not accurately pronounce words from Anand Bakshi’s Hindustani lyrics. But, as Balachander’s condition was clear that SPB was to sing for Kamal Hassan, since the character, Vasu, was not supposed to be good at Hindi and pronunciation wouldn’t be a problem, the composer duo hesitantly agreed.
And as they say the rest is history, the following year, SPB received the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for the film. Wow, what an amazing soul indeed - SPB like his music, will live on our hearts too forever!