Veteran Telugu playback singer V Ramakrishna passed away at his residence in Hyderabad on 16 July, Wednesday. Sources say the 68-year-old singer was undergoing treatment for cancer.
"He passed away late last night at his Venkatagiri Hills residence," a family source told IANS.
Born in 1947, Ramakrishna had sung nearly 5,000 songs and was most popular for his devotional songs. He started his career as a singer at a very young age on popular show "Yuva Vani" on All India Radio. In 1972, he made his singing debut with the Telugu song, "Vayase Oka Poolathota" from "Vichitra Bandham".
He is the nephew of popular playback singer P Susheela and idolised legendary singer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao.
He went on to sing several chartbusters in films such as "Andala Ramudu", "Sharada", "Alluri Seetharama Raju", "Muthyala Muggu" and "Amaradeepam". Later, he became the favourite singer of many stars like NTR, ANR and Soban Babu, who preferred his voice for their film songs.
Ramakrishna is survived his wife Jyothi, son Sai Kiran, who is a popular Telugu actor, and daughter Lekha. His last rites will be performed on Thursday.
