A few hours after his performance in Kolkata on Tuesday night, legendary Bollywood vocalist Krishnakumar Kunnath, KK, passed away. He was 53 when he died, and his death after a show in front of a swarming crowd at Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha is likely to result from a heart attack. His beautiful voice floats over a collection of timeless love and friendship odes.
For some reason, it’s still hard for me to comprehend that KK is no longer with us. His career includes such classics as “Pal,” “Yaron dosti,” “Tadap tadap,” and “Aankhon mein teri.” At the end of an electrifying performance that saw the crowd clapping and pounding along to his songs from 7 to 9 p.m. local time, he said goodbye to his adoring fans and thanked them for a wonderful evening. But when KK returned to his hotel on the Esplanade, he complained of chest pains and was taken to CMRI Hospital, some 5 kilometres away, where he was declared dead at 10:30 p.m. that night.
“The hospital received the corpse of singer KK. Despite being turned over to the authorities, the corpse was kept in our mortuary overnight,” said the hospital officials. KK, who was in town for a two-day tour, performed at a Vivekananda College event on Monday night at Nazrul Manch. His return to Delhi was likely to take place on Wednesday.
A police force was positioned outside the hospital to cope with the crowds of KK’s admirers who had assembled upon the announcement of his death.
An attendee of the Gurudas College event on Tuesday, Shibasis Banerjee, praised the vocalist as lively throughout the show.
“We took some photos with KK sir, and he also signed a few autographs when we asked him to do so. He was full of energy, and we really enjoyed his concert,” he said.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his condolences for the loss of the singer-songwriter “The sudden demise of the Internationally renowned vocalist KK, Krishnakumar Kunnath, has left everyone stunned and heartbroken. His melodies evoked a broad range of feelings in listeners of different ages and backgrounds. We shall cherish his music for the rest of our lives.” he wrote. PM offered his deepest sympathies to KK’s family, friends and loved ones.
One of KK’s collaborators on multiple films, Jeet Ganguly, was the first person to arrive at the hospital. The singer’s death, he said, came as a complete surprise to him. When he saw how well I was doing, he would advise me that I needed to take better care of myself.” I have no idea how this came to pass.
A plethora of Kolkata-based singers have expressed their sadness at the death of KK, known for his renditions of “Pyaar Ke Pal” and “Yaaron,” among others. Fans from all around the world were stunned by the abrupt death and expressed their grief and condolences on social media.
KK was a versatile singer who has recorded in a variety of Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Bengali. On August 23, 1968, he was born.
He started his career singing commercial jingles before singing on an A.R. Rahman score for his feature film debut. In 1999, he published his first album, Pal. Pal’s tunes “Pal” and “Yaaron” in high school farewells have become a popular choice. Fans will appreciate KK’s works of art forever, and they will never forget the incredible ability he had.
