This year (2013), the Tamil film industry has lost several celebrities and legends who have entertained us with their talents.

Check out the list of celebrities who passed away in 2013:

Vaali (1931-2013)

Vaali, a renowned Tamil lyricist, passed away on 18 July due to respiratory illness.

In a career spanning more than five decades, Vaali has penned more than 10,000 songs in films. The industry veteran has written songs for some of the biggest stars including MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, Suriya and Dhanush.

Besides penning lyrics, Vaali has acted in a couple of movies including Madhavan's "Paarthaale Paravasam" and Kamal's "Hey Ram."

Manivannan (1954-2013)

Director-actor Manivannan died of cardiac arrest on 15 June. He was 59. His death came as a shock to the Tamil film industry members.

Manivannan is known for his directorial and acting skills. He has acted in over 400 films and directed around 50 films. His last film as a director was "Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA", which released in 2013.

Manjula Vijayakumar (1953-2013)

Veteran actress Manjula died on 23 July after suffering from a stomach injury.

Manjula has acted in more than 100 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada industries.

She is survived by her husband Vijay Kumar (actor) and three daughters - Sreedevi, Preetha and Vanitha who were former actresses in Tamil cinema.

T. K. Ramamurthy (1922-2013)

Veteran music composer T.K. Ramamurthy passed away in Chennai on 17 April after suffering from a brief illness.

Ramamurthy along with MS. Vishwanthan composed several hit numbers in Tamil films. Later, he parted ways with Vishwanathan and composed songs for a few films.

Dance Master Raghuram (1949-2013)

Raghuram, a veteran dance choreographer, passed away on 30 November this year. He had a sudden cardiac arrest that led to his death.

Raghuram began his film career working as a child artiste in Tamil films and later learned dance and worked as an assistant choreographer in MGR's "Anbe Vaa" film.

In his five-decade career, Raghuram has worked with stalwarts of Indian cinema including Sivaji Ganesan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

T.M. Soundararajan (1922-2013)

Following a brief illness, veteran playback singer TM Soundararajan passed away on 25 May, 2013.

The singer began his career in 1946 and went on to croon songs for big stars of Tamil cinema. He was last seen as a part of the group of singers who sang a theme song, composed by AR Rahman, for World Classical Tamil Conference in 2010.

P B Srinivas (1930 -2013)

Veteran playback singer PB Srinivas passed away on 14 April.

The 82-year-old singer died of heart attack at his residence in Chennai. In a career spanning over 50 years, PB Srinivas has sung over 3,000 songs in various film industries including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

Chitti Babu (1964-2013)

Actor-turned Television anchor Chitti Babu (aka Sajjadh Adeebh) died last month in Chennai.

Chitti Babu was admitted to the hospital after he fell unconscious at his home. The actor slipped into coma and was in serious condition. However, doctors could not revive him and the actor died on 8 November.

Chitti Babu has worked in a few Tamil films including Vijay's "Sivakasi", Vikram's "Dhool" and Dhanush's "Maapillai" and was also a popular host on the small screen.