Legendary singer Vani Jayaram passes away

Vani Jairam, also popularly known as Vani Jayaram, is a legendary playback singer in the South film industry. The National Award Winning and Padma Bhushan singer passed away on Saturday, at the age of 78 years. She took her last breath at her residence on Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai due to age-related issues.

On Republic Day this year, she was announced as a recipient of the Padma Bhushan award for her over 50 years of contribution to Indian music. However, Jayaram passed away before she could accept the prestigious award.

Vani Jayaram started her career as a singer in 1971 and delivered many blockbuster songs. In a career span of five decades, she sang over 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali etc, and also recorded devotional and private albums. She has worked with legendary composers including MS Ilaiyaraaja, RD Burman, KV Mahadevan, OP Nayyar, and Madan Mohan, among others. However, it was for K. Viswanath’s musical film Sankarabharanam (1979), that Vani got immense popularity by singing five songs and winning her second National Film award for all the songs collectively. The singer is known for blockbuster songs like Poojalu Cheya, Ennenno Janmala Bandham, Or Idam Unnidam, Malarpol Sirippathu Pathinaaru, Ezhu Swarangalukkul, Naane Naana, and the list goes on.

The legendary singer has not bagged one but four State Awards, three National Awards, International awards and many more.

Even before the South audience and celebs could get over K Vishwanath’s demise, Jayaram’s sudden news left everyone even more woeful. Many South celebs are taking to Twitter to pay respects to Vani Jayaram and offer condolences.

Radhikaa Sarathkumar took to Twitter and said that she is shocked by the sudden demise of Vani Jayaram. The actress wrote, “This is so shocking #vanijayaram,just last night I was playing her song and telling my husband how beautifully she was rendering the song in #KVishwanath sirs film.I am so shocked.”

Khushbu Sundar also penned a note on Twitter on the demise of Vani Jayaram, “Terrible news coming in.. we have lost yet another gem.#VaniJayaram ji is no more amongst us. A voice that has enthralled us for many years has left us heartbroken. Her sweet and gentle nature was so evident in her voice. You will always be remembered amma. Om Shanti.’