Vocal music is one of the oldest and most universal art forms. A discovery and celebration of one such voice is Sripathi Panditharadhyula Balasubrahmanyam. His music transcends all barriers - linguistic, geographical and chronological. He is a phenomenal success and incredibly talented. He is S.P. BALASUBRAHMANYAM, popularly known as Balu.

SPB took the Indian film music scene by storm in 1979 with his phenomenally successful rendition for the movie SHANKARABHARANAM. He won his first National Award for the same and came the international fame. After this, there was no looking back. He consistently topped the Indian musical charts.

He has none of the airs of a star. His warm, vibrant nature and almost childlike innocence is infectious. He does not obtrude his presence on others and does give people due respect. He has a magnetic stage presence and enthralls the audience with an exceptional performance, inspiring the other singers to match his emotions and energy with a mesmerizing voice and passionate singing style. An easy-going person, Balu can be bubbly and charming with any age group.

Balu was born on June 4, 1946, in Konetampet, then in Andhra Pradesh, now in Tamil Nadu. His father, Sri. S.P. Sambhamurthy was a fine musician and an excellent exponent of "Harikatha" (a fine art form of entertainment combined with music and story telling).

Blessed with an adorable voice and impeccable musical skills, SPB was never trained to be a singer. A young, Telugu-speaking lad from Andhra Pradesh, like any other boy his age was studying to pursue a career in Engineering. He had a natural flair for singing and participated in most of the singing contests from college. In one such contest, was spotted by his mentor the late, Sri. S.P. Kodandapani. Balu won the first prize and walked out with his first break to sing in the film "SRI SRI SRI MARYADA RAMANNA" in 1966. Thus began a legendary career which became history.

Before he became a full fledged cinema singer, Balu was the leader of a light music troupe that comprising
* Anirutta, who was working in Corporation and was the harmonium artist
* Ilaiyaraaja who joined the group as Guitarist and then moved over to harmonium after Anirutta became busy in his regular job
* Baskar, Ilaiyaraaja's brother who was in charge of Percussion
* Gangai Amaran another brother of Ilaiyaraaja who was the Guitarist after Ilaiyaraaja moved over to Harmonium

Balus first break in Hindi films was EK DUJE KE LIYE. Subsequently, he created history by bagging the National Award for his first song in the first Hindi movie.

So far, Balu has sung over a record 36,000 plus songs in a span of 39 years, in all languages which include several albums of contemporary Indian music, private albums for devotional songs and movies. It is amazing to see the ease with which Balu can render his voice for any language namely, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Tulu, Oriya, Assamese and Punjabi.

There has been no arena of music left for experimentation.

* From singing to composing was a short leap, compiling music for 45 films in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi.
* Dubbing for south Indian stars is another venture that brought him recognition for his deep and astounding voice. He even received the best dubbing artiste award for ANNAMAYYA for lending his voice to Suman, who played Lord Balaji in the movie.
* He has also successfully portrayed character roles in as many as 45 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

Awards & Achievements


PRESTIGIOUS TITLES
Year Title Presented by
2001 PadmaShree Award President of India K.R. Narayanan
1999 Doctorate from Pottisreeramulu University (A.P). Governor Rangarajan.


NATIONAL AWARDS
Year Name of the movie Language Song Music Director Producer
1996 Minsara Kanavu Tamil Thanga Thamarai Magalae A.R.Rahman A.V.M.Saravanan
1995 Gana Yogi Panchakshara Gavayi Kannada Hamsalekha
1988 Rudra Veena Telugu Cheppaalani Undi Illayaraja Nagendra Babu
1983 Sagara Sangamam Telugu Illayaraja Edida Nageswara Rao for Poornodaya Films
1981 Ek Duje Keliye Hindi Tere Mere Beech Mein Laxmikant Pyarelal L.V.Prasad
1979 Sankarabharanam Telugu Om Kaara Nadaanu K.V.Mahadevan Poornodaya Art Creations


STATE AWARDS
Year Title Presented by
2002 Best Playback Singer - Nandi Award Andhra Pradesh Government
2000 Best Playback Singer Award Tamil Nadu Government
2000 Andhra Pradesh Government Award - Received 10 times Andhra Pradesh Government
1981 Kalai Mamani Tamilnadu Government


OTHER AWARDS
Month & Year Title Presented by
April, 2002 'Rashtriya Vikas Shiromani Award (Life time)' in 2002 Delhi Telugu Academy's
August, 2002 "Dr. Bezawada Gopala Reddy Award" given during a function in Nellore
January, 2002 Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas' award in 2002
September, 2002 Life time Achievement Award "Play back King" TVS Victor Aalaapana Music Awards
August, 2001 Sangeeta Ganga award in 2001 Rani Satish (Minister of State for Kannada and Culture)
January, 2000 Innumerable Awards from Magazines & Associations fostering films
January, 2000 Mia Tansen Award Sur Singar Sanjad (Bombay) for best classical rendition of a song from 'Tere Payal Mere Geeth' composed by Naushad Sab
January, 1990 Film Fare Award for the film 'Maine Pyar Kiya'


ACHIEVEMENTS
# Has recorded over 36,000 songs in a span of 35 years, which include film songs and devotional numbers recorded by various recording companies of the country. It's a world record which will be soon entering into the Guinness Book of World Records.
# Has recorded 17 songs in Kannada for the composer Upendra Kumar in Bangalore from 9.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. on February 8, 1981 which is a record.
# Has recorded 19 songs in Tamil in a day, and 16 songs in Hindi in a day, which is a notable achievement.