M.S. Subbalakshmi - Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi - ( 16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004)

M.S. Subbalakshmi was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. She is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award.  Subbulakshmi was born in Madurai to veena player Shanmukavadiver Ammal and Subramania Iyer. Her grandmother Akkammal was a violinist. She started learning Carnatic music at an early age and trained in Carnatic music.

Subbulakshmi gave her first public performance in 1929 when she was 13 years old at the prestigious Madras Music Academy.

She also made her film debut in Sevasadan in 1938.  MS Subbulakshmi also played the male role of Narada in "Savitri" (1941) to raise money for launching Kalki, her husband's nationalist Tamil weekly. Her title role of the Rajasthani saint-poetess Meera in the eponymous 1945 film gave her national prominence.

Subbulakshmi first recording was released when she was 10 years old. She gave her first public performance during the Mahamaham festival at Kumbakonam at the age of sixteen.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had this to say about M.S. Subbulakshmi- "Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a Queen, a Queen of Music". While Lata Mangeshkar called her Tapaswini (the Renunciate), Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan termed her Suswaralakshmi (the goddess of the perfect note), and Kishori Amonkar labeled her the ultimate eighth note or Aathuvaan Sur, which is above the seven notes basic to all music. The great national leader and poet Sarojini Naidu called her "Nightingale of India".

Her many famous renditions of bhajans include the chanting of Bhaja Govindam, Vishnu sahasranama, Hari Tuma Haro and the Venkateswara Suprabhatam.