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Renowned playback singer P Leela passes away

    Chennai: Veteran playback singer P Leela died this morning at a private hospital in Chennai. Leela, 76, was being treated for pneumonia and asthma. Her funeral will be take place this evening, family sources said. In a career spanning over five decades, P Leela, had sung over 1,000 songs in different languages under top music directors. She also left a lasting impression as a devotional singer with her recital of Narayaneeyam and Lord Guruvayurappan songs marking brisk sales of the records. Vakacharthu as recited by Leela, is played every morning in Guruvayur Temple, coinciding with the Nirmalya darshan in the wee hours. Born to parents deeply interested in music in Chittur in Palakkad district, Leela had a thorough training in classical music before starting her film career. Her first song was for the Tamil movie Kankanam in 1943, when she was just 13. It was an invocational song composed by H R Padmanabha Sastry. Several songs in Telugu and Kannada films followed the debut performance before she made it to her mother tongue, Malayalam, with the 1948 release Nirmala. She had since then made hundreds of Malayalam scores, known for their emotional touch and classical discipline. Leela was a recipient of several honours, including the first best playback singer award of the Kerala government in 1969.