1960s–1970s Balasubrahmanyam debuted as a playback singer on 15 December 1966 with the song "Emiyee Vinta Moham" for
Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, a
Telugu film scored by his mentor,
S. P. Kodandapani. The first non-Telugu song that he recorded was in
Kannada in 1966 for the film
Nakkare Ade Swarga, starring
T. R. Narasimharaju. He recorded his first
Tamil song "Athaanodu Ippadi Irundhu Eththanai Naalaachu", a duet with
L. R. Eswari under the musical direction of
M. S. Viswanathan for the film
Hotel Ramba, which never released. The song "Medante Meda Kaadu" from the film
Sukha Dukhalu (1968) composed by Kondandapani brought him recognition in Telugu cinema. Other early songs he sang were duets with P. Susheela, "Iyarkai Ennum Ilaya Kanni" in the 1969 film
Shanti Nilayam, starring
Gemini Ganesan, and "Aayiram Nilavae Vaa" for
M. G. Ramachandran in
Adimaippenn. His first song with S. Janaki was "Pournami Nilavil Pani Vizhum Iravil" in
Kanni Penn. He was then introduced to the Malayalam film industry by
G. Devarajan in the film
Kadalppalam. As per Balasubrahmanyam, "Ye Divilo Virisina Parijathamo" from the 1973 Telugu film
Kannevayasu composed by
Satyam gave an amazing turning point to his singing career. and his wife Balasubrahmanyam recorded the most songs on a single day by any singer. He had recorded 21 songs in Kannada for the composer
Upendra Kumar in Bangalore from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm on 8 February 1981 and 19 songs in Tamil, 16 songs in Hindi in a day. In his words, "There were days when I used to record 15–20 songs, but only for
Anand Milind. And I would take the last flight back to Chennai." In the 1970s, he also worked with
M. S. Viswanathan in Tamil movies for actors such as M. G. Ramachandran,
Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan. He recorded duets with
P. Susheela,
S. Janaki,
Vani Jayaram and
L. R. Eswari. Balasubrahmanyam's association with
Ilaiyaraaja began even before Ilaiyaraaja came to the cine field. In the early days, he used to sing in towns and villages all over south India and Ilaiyaraaja, then an unknown harmonium and guitar player accompanied him in his concerts.
1980s Balasubrahmanyam gained international recognition with the 1980 film
Sankarabharanam. The film is considered to be one of the best films ever to emerge from the
Telugu film industry. Directed by
K. Viswanath, the film's soundtrack was composed by
K. V. Mahadevan and led to an increase in the usage of
Carnatic music in Telugu cinema as well as in other languages. Not a classically trained singer, he used a "film music" aesthetic in recording the songs. Balasubrahmanyam received his first
National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for his work. His first work in Hindi films was in the following year, in
Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), for which he received another
National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. Balasubrahmanyam began to record more songs in Telugu and other South Indian languages, especially for
Ilaiyaraaja with
S. Janaki, the trio considered to be highly successful in the
Tamil film industry from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The songs were based on classical music, such as in
Saagara Sangamam (1983) and
Rudraveena (1988), for which Ilaiyaraaja and Balasubrahmanyam won
National Awards for
Best Music Director and Best Male Playback Singer respectively. South Indian actor
Chiranjeevi said that SPB's voice is one of the main reasons for his success. In 1989, Balasubrahmanyam was the playback singer for actor
Salman Khan in
Maine Pyar Kiya. The
soundtrack for the film won a
Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song
Dil Deewana. For much of the next decade, Balasubrahmanyam continued as the "romantic singing voice" on the soundtracks of Khan's films. Notable among these was
Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! which became the
highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. Balasubrahmanyam's duet with
Lata Mangeshkar, "
Didi Tera Devar Deewana", was very popular. SP Balasubrahmanyam became identified as Salman Khan's voice in the 90s just like
Kishore Kumar became
Rajesh Khanna's voice through the 70s.
1990s performing at
Celebrating 50 years of musical journey of S. P. Balasubrahmanyam on 9 December 2016 at Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Dubai In the 1990s, he worked with composers such as
Vidyasagar,
M. M. Keeravani,
Hamsalekha,
S. A. Rajkumar and
Deva among others, but his association with
A. R. Rahman turned out be a major success. Balasubrahmanyam recorded three songs for
A. R. Rahman in the latter's debut film
Roja. He had a long-time association with Rahman right from
Roja. Other popular songs include "July Maadham" from
Pudhiya Mugam, which also marked the debut of singer
Anupama, "Mannoothu Manthayilae" from
Kizhakku Cheemayile which was a folk number and he almost sang all songs in the musical love story
Duet and "Thanga Thaamarai" from
Minsara Kanavu which fetched him, the sixth and latest of his
National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer to date. Balasubrahmanyam's association with
Hamsalekha began after the latter's successful venture
Premaloka in Kannada. Balasubrahmanyam sang the most songs for Hamsalekha in Kannada. He received his fourth National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Umandu Ghumandu" from the Kannada film
Ganayogi Panchakshari Gavayi (1995), which was a
Hindustani classical music-based composition by Hamsalekha. SPB is the only singer having a long spanning career of 54 years having at least two songs to record per day, even in his last days. In May 2020, SPB crooned a song on humanity titled "Bharath Bhoomi" which was composed by
Ilaiyaraaja as a tribute to the people such as police, doctors, nurses and janitors who have been significantly working amid
COVID-19 pandemic. The video song was officially unveiled by Ilaiyaraaja through his official
YouTube account on 30 May 2020 in both Tamil and Hindi languages. ==Selected discography==