What a deadly year 2020 has been so far? With some claiming that the year was from hell, we can't completely ignore that as it has been filled with the dusk around everyone's lives. Ever since the world started revolving around the deadly pandemic, we have been pushed to brace up the challenges by having no dearth of bad news. From the barrage of uncertainty, aberrant state of survival, and loss of some of the global legends, we have got the worst remembrance during the year so far. 

It has become such a year for millions of fans of phenomenal singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, who has now gone to the interminable sleep, leaving the masses with deep pain and agony. SPB has never been fitted into a mould of being just an artist and singer. Prefixed as phenomenal, he has always been a miracle for everyone and never had a second thought of why he's been into this. In a career spanning for over five decades, he has reached everyone under the sun and moon through his pleasant and heavenly voice. 

SPB has gifted with such a grant voice and dedication and we are indeed gifted to have him during our lifetime as one of our inspirations. SPB has in someway taught us the 'law of attraction', through his magnetic and powerful voice, and hearing his song would make us enthrall in a peaceful, emotional, and devotional world. Born in 1946 into a middle-class family from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam had broken many social norms despite his traditional upbringing. 

SPB's father SP Sambamurthy was a devotional singer and when SPB was raised, it was a norm at most of the homes to learn classical music. By dropping off the tradition, he moved to Chennai at a young age and he formed a band with his friends. Ilayaraja, who has been dubbed as 'Isaignani', was one among the members of his band. After the band had unveiled his talent in singing, he chose to walk on that path, and eventually, he dropped out of engineering studies. 

During his studies, he continued to pursue music and he had won awards at singing competitions. In 1964, he won the first prize in a music competition for amateur singers organized by the Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organization. At age of 20, he became active in singing and he has got a major breakthrough when he sang for MG Ramachandran (MGR) in a 1969 film 'Adimai Penn' and from then on, no turn back and he later emerged as one of the remarkable playback singers in the country. 

In 1979, he went on to win his first national award for the Telugu film 'Shankarabarnam'. In his movie, he sang for a Carnatic musician. After receiving the award, he said he had never learned Carnatic music and when he won his second national award for 'Ek Duje Ke Liye' in 1981, he confessed that he did not know Hindi. What helped him to win the national award from the language that he didn't know?  It was his dedication, never giving up attitude, loads of talent, and his golden voice. 

Initially, MGR has refused anyone other than TM Soundararajan sing for him, but 'Adaimai Penn' director Mahadevan convinced MGR and made SPB sing 'Aayiram Nilavey Vaa', that was when SPB's career sparked to fame. After listening to the song MGR loved it and called SPB to his home and gifted him a gold ring. The song was a huge hit and since then SPB has been ruling the music world as the top playback singer in Tamil Cinema. 

After rosing to the popularity, he had once spent 17 hours in a single day recording songs for different composers. In 1981, the singer has created a record by recording 21 new songs in the Kannada language from morning until night for a film music composer. With the commitment, the singer with always smiling face had shown great productivity.  He could easily record half a dozen songs in a day and he has sung over 2,000 songs for his long-time friend and music composer Ilayaraaja. In 1992, he had sung some romantic tracks for AR Rahman in the movie 'Roja', which yielded the musician a blockbuster hit. 

SPB's smile and dedication can't be separated and proved it he can't be fit into a mould through his multi-lingual talent and versatility. With no turn back and no second thought, he went on to earn an immense reputation and he later became the highest-paid singer in Southern India. SPB was a voice of superstars - From MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Salman Khan, Rajini Kanth, Kamal Haasan to the growing contemporary actors. SPB first sang for Salman's 'Maine Pyar Kiya' in 1989 following which he reserved a place in Bollywood. 

SPB has been a precious asset to the industry and throughout his career, he has sung over 40,000 songs in 16 languages -a remarkable achievement and if we calculate on the year basis, he had sung nearly 740 songs a year, which is incredible. Be it a devotional, melody, and romantic track, you will hardly find his absence as his voice and emotions are spread everywhere on the music world and he would be first to reach our mind whenever we tend to hear some ever-lasting songs. 

In a way, he has become the household name. Being a natural performer, he perfectly knew the pulse of the audience, and being a gentleman, he truly offered his love, support, and wishes and he purely touched and inspired millions. He dominated our hearts with his voice and conceded the defeat with a smile. Being a versatile artist, he had acted in 45 movies and composed music for over 40 movies. For singing 40,000 songs, he was conferred with Guinness Records and bestowed with India's top civilian honors, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2001 and 2011 respectively. 

He battled the defeat with a smile and went on to touch more feats. However, the battle for his survival was hard to him and to his fans as after battling for life nearly for fifty days, he has passed away on Friday at the age of 74 in Chennai after he tested positive for COVID-19 viral infection. Though he won the battle against the pandemic, his battle for survival came to an end after he breathed his last which was in fact an end of an era.

It was still hard to believe that the legendary singer is not with us. Even he would also be pained to leave us, but he has left a legacy that needs to be treasured for future generations so that they can know there were some of the golden hearts and great humans lived in their past. Artists would never die and SPB will live with us now and forever. Let's relish and cherish his voice, songs, and memories as we are going to move ahead to see what else the year 2020 has got.  Amid the irreplaceable loss, let's thank the golden star for touching and inspiring our lives as his loss would be incessant dusk for the music world.