Chennai: Noted playback singer S.P. Balasubramanyam (SPB) died at a private hospital in Chennai this afternoon following a brief illness. He was 74.

S.P. Charan, son of Balasubramanyam, told media that his father breathed his last at 1.04 pm. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

A multi-faced personality, Balasubramanyam, known as Balu or SPB in music industry, was a multilingual  playback singer. He had recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages. SPB had held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 40,000 songs. Besides, he had acted in a number of movies. 

He started his career as a playback singer in 1966 and was active till recently. Last month, he developed health complications and admitted to hospital where he breathed his last. SPB is a recipient of Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011 from the Government of India. Besides, he had won a number of national awards.