Thrissur, Jan 9 (IANS): Legendary singer P. Jayachandran passed away here at a hospital on Thursday night. He fell unconscious at his home and, despite being rushed to the hospital, he could not be saved.

Jayachandran, 80, was suffering from a terminal illness. In a singing career spanning over six decades, he sung more than 16,000 songs in numerous languages.

He won the National Award for best singer besides five Kerala State awards and two Tamil Nadu state awards.

In 2020, he was given the J.C. Daniel Prize, the biggest film award in Kerala given for outstanding contribution towards the film industry.

Born into the Cochin Royal family on March 3, 1944, he graduated in Zoology and, after working for a brief while, turned into his passion - singing.

He sang his first Malayalam film song in 1965 and had no reason to look back after that.

Even though he had to compete with another legend, K.J. Yesudas, the two first met at the inaugural State School Youth festival in 1958 when he won the award for the best mridamgam artiste, while Yesudas was the best classical singer and since then they always had a healthy competition and had the highest mutual respect for one another.

In his lengthy film career, he worked with numerous composers, which included the Oscar-award-winning composer M. Keeravani, besides legends like G. Devarajan, Illayaraja, A.R. Rahman to name a few. An ardent devotee of the famed Sree Krishna temple Guruvayoor, and even when he was unwell, he recently rendered a song to Lord Guruvayoorapan.

Jayachandran married Lalitha in May 1973, and they have a daughter and a son - Dinanath who also is in the music industry.

He also acted in two Malayalam films. Condolences have started to pour in with leading lights from various sections of the society remembering the legendary singer.