Tamil playback legend dies at 91

IANS/Chennai

Tamil playback legend T M Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, died at his residence here yesterday, family members said. He was 91.

TMS who was ailing for some time is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

An undisputed king among playback singers in the Tamil cinema world, TMS rendered numerous hit songs for heroes likes M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Ravichandran, Sivakumar and others.

Most of his popular hit songs had been composed by music directors M S Viswanathan, K V Mahadevan and the Viswanathan-Ramamurthy duo.

The meaningful lyrics of Kannadasan and soulful music composed by Mahadevan, Viswanathan, V Kumar, Veda and others coupled with his great voice makes many of his sad solos heart-wrenching even now.

Born in Madurai, TMS started his singing career in 1946 and was active until 2007. He also acted in a few films and sang several devotional songs.

TMS began singing in stage concerts in the voice of popular hero M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.

He made his movie debut with music director Subbaiah Naidu scoring music for Krishna Vijayam.

Unlike many other singers, TMS had the ability to modulate his voice while singing for MGR and Sivaji Ganesan.

He was famous for his acting and singing in Arunagirinathar. In a career spanning over six decades, he rendered more than 10,000 songs.

He gave several beautiful melodies with legendary female singers like P Suseela, S Janaki and L R Eswari.