Playback singer P Jayachandran, who recorded over 16,000 songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, dies at 80

The singer recorded over 16,000 songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi in a career spanning over five decades.

Many of his songs, which came out in the 1970s and 80, still remain evergreen for generations of music lovers.

He had won the national award for the best male playback singer in 1986. In 2020, he was conferred with the J C Daniel Award in recognition for his contributions to Malayalam cinema.  He had also won state film awards in Kerala five times and two times in Tamil Nadu.

Jayachandran’s father Ravivarma Kochaniyan Thampuran, who belonged to the Cochin Royal Family, was a musician. During school days, Jayachandran studied mridangam. In the state school youth festival held in 1958, Jayachandran got the prizes for the best light music singer and mridangam performance. After obtaining a degree in Zoology, he got a job in Chennai, where he met then film director A Vincent, who gave him an opportunity to sing in cinema.

Jayachandran’s debut into playback singing was in 1966 for Malayalam movie Kalithozhan. The song ‘Manjalayil Mungi thorthi’, delivered by a combination of Jayachadran, composer G Devarajan and lyricist P Bhaskaran, remains an evergreen song even after six decades. Since then, he has worked with leading composers and renowned lyricists in South Indian languages, mainly in Malayalam and Tamil.

In 1972, he got the first state award for a hit song ‘Neelagiriyude’ in the movie Panitheeratha Veedu. He created a wave in Tamil film music with the song ‘Raasaathi unna’ in the 1984 film Vaidehi Kaathirunal.

Jayachandran has left behind songs for all ages from young to old, for all emotional moments in life.

He is survived by wife Lalitha, daughter Lakshmi and son Dinanathan, who is also a singer. The funeral will be held later.

Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the demise of Jayachandran.

The Governor said, “His endearing voice that charmed audience for six decades will go on to soothe people’s hearts.”

Vijayan said the journey of the song that transcended time and space has come to a halt. “The curtain falls here on a melodic wonder that has captured the hearts of generations,” the CM said.