Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passes away at 74

Veteran singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away at a private hospital at 1.04 p.m. in Chennai on Friday. He was 74. SPB Charan, SP Balasubrahmanyam's son came and announced at the gates of the hospital that SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away at 1:04 pm today and thanked all those who prayed for the singer’s recovery.

In a new medical bulletin and a health update on SP Balasubrahmanyam on Thursday, it was confirmed that the veteran singer is under maximal life support and extremely critical. MGM Healthcare had said in a health bulletin, "Thiru S P Balasubrahmanyam who had been admitted at MGM Healthcare on August 5, remains on ECM° and other life support measures. His condition in the last 24 hours has deteriorated further warranting maximal life support and he is extremely critical. The team of experts at MGM Healthcare is closely monitoring his health condition," said Dr. Anuradha Baskaran, Assistant Director - Medical Services MGM Healthcare.

Soon after learning that veteran playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam`s health has deteriorated and he is 'critical', on Thursday, actor-politician Kamal Haasan visited him at MGM hospital in Chennai. In a media byte, Haasan said, "Life support machines are in use, can't say he's doing well. He's very critical, everyone are praying to the almighty." In an earlier tweet, Haasan had fondly recalled how SPB was his on-screen voice and he as an actor was SPB's face.

On August 21, in a statement issued to the media, the senior singer`s son SP Charan had informed that his father was stable and had tested negative for coronavirus. "Dear media friends. Thanks for your continuous support and prayers for my father. My father is fine and stable and his corona test has become negative. will keep you posted about the updates," the statement had read.

The musician had informed on August 5 about his positive COVID-19 test results through a video message posted on his official Facebook page. In the video, the singer had spoken about having a little "discomfort" for two days, stating he had chest congestion along with cold and on-off fever, which led him to get tested for the virus.