She was honoured with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2023It’s another dark day for the Telugu film industry. The legendary playback singer Vani Jairam passes away at her residence in Chennai at the age of 78. She reportedly had an injury to her forehead. The National Award-winning singer was announced to receive the Padma Bhushan this year.Born as Kalaivani on November 30, 1945, into a family of classical musicians in Vellore city of Tamil Nadu, Vani Jairam began her musical journey at the age of 5. She has been in the industry for more than 50 years and has rendered over 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Odia, Haryanvi, Assamese, Tulu, and Bengali and many other languages. Be it Carnatic, Hindustani, Ghazal, Light or Pop songs, Vani Jairam can effortlessly sing them all and she is known for her versatility. “Ennenno Janmala Bandham” in Pooja (1975), “Brochevarevarura” and “Ae Teeruga” in Shankarabharanam (1979), “Minneti Sooreedu” in Seethakoka Chiluka (1981), “Alokaye Sri Balakrishnam” in Shruthilayalu (1987), “Oka Brindavanam” in Gharshana (1988), “Theli Manchu”, “Aanati Neeyara” and “Shruti Neevu” in Swathi Kiranam (1992), are some of the immortal Telugu songs of Vani Jairam.Vani Jairam has won the National Award for Best Playback Singer thrice over the course of her career, along with three Filmfare Awards and several State Awards. On being awarded the Padma Bhushan, she had said: “I feel truly honoured and very grateful to the government for having thought of me for this honour. For the last 52 years, my fans have been listening to my songs and encouraging me, and I thank them for this continued support.”The news of her death comes close on the heels of the loss of two Tollywood legends - filmmaker K Viswanath and actress Jamuna.