Playback singer KP Udayabhanu passes away

            Playback singer KP Udayabhanu passes away around 8.45 pm today(5.1.2014) He was 77 He is survived by his son Rajeev. His wife Vijayalekshmi.Family sources said he was ailing for more than a year.who was one of the senior most singers in the Malayalam film industry, was born on June 6, 1936, at Tharur in Palakad district of Kerala to N S Varma and Ammu Nethyaramma. He was a nephew of founder-chief editor of Mathrubhoomi newspaper, K P Kesava Menon.He is learnt music at the Thyagaraja Sangeetha Vidyalaya in Kalpathy, where he was taught by such well-known musicians as Flute Krishna Iyer, Palakkad Mani Iyer and M D Ramanathan.
       Though he was trained in the classical traditions, he ended up making a career in light music and playback singing.Udayabhanu made his debut as a playback singer in 1958 in the film Nayaru Pidicha Pulivaalu, in which sang a solo and a duet with P Leela under the baton of composer K Raghavan.He began his career as an announcer at the Kozhikode station of All India Radio in 1955, which brought him into contact with several well-known writers and musicians. This helped him enter the film industry and he went on to sing several unforgettable songs and compose music for some films.He spent his childhood in Singapore,
       where his father was a businessman. After losing his mother at the age of seven, he returned to India in 1944 along with his siblings, where they were looked after by their maternal uncle.He travelled with his music group to the United States, Canada, Europe, Singapore and all the Gulf countries. Udayabhanu was honoured by the Union Government with the Padma Shri in 2009. He had won theCentral Sangeet Nataka Akademi Award for creative music 2002 and the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship 2004.