S.P. Balasubrahmanyam

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was born in Nellore in 1946, the son of a Harikatha performer, studied engineering, and sang his first Telugu film song in 1966 for S.P. Kodandapani. By the mid-1970s he was the leading male voice of Telugu and Tamil cinema, and he went on to record in sixteen languages; he won six National Awards for playback and was said to have sung more than forty thousand songs.

Laxmikant-Pyarelal's Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) — Tere Mere Beech Mein, with Lata — was his Hindi arrival and won him the National Award. Raamlaxman's Maine Pyar Kiya (Dil Deewana, Aaja Shaam Hone Aayi, Kabootar Ja Ja Ja) and Hum Aapke Hain Koun (Didi Tera Devar Deewana, Pehla Pehla Pyar) made him Salman Khan's voice; Rahman's Roja (Roja Jaaneman) and Saajan, Hum Saath Saath Hain and Chennai Express's title song in 2013 continued the Hindi thread. He also acted, dubbed, composed and hosted television in the south.

He received the Padma Shri (2001), Padma Bhushan (2011) and, posthumously, the Padma Vibhushan (2021). He died in Chennai in September 2020 after contracting Covid-19, at seventy-four.

S.P.B.'s voice was a warm, flexible baritone of extraordinary stamina, able to sing a classical set piece, a comic song and a lullaby with equal command and a southern roundness that his Hindi never quite lost — which, in the Salman Khan films, was part of the charm. He was a natural mimic and actor with his voice; composers in every language said he gave them the character, not just the tune.