Photo Courtesy - Mathrubhumi

Malayalam playback singer P Jayachandran passed away in Thrissur hospital at 7:45 PM on Thursday . He had been undergoing treatment for cancer for a long time.

The funeral will take place on Friday evening at his home in Chennamangalam Paliyath, Thrissur.

He was honored five times with the Kerala State Award for Best Male Playback Singer and once with the National Award. In 1994, he won the Best Male Playback Singer award for his song "Kaathaalam Kaattuvazhi" from the Tamil film Kizhakku Seemaiyile. Jayachandran, with his haunting voice, took Tamil audiences by storm with his song "Raasaathi Unnai Kaanaathe Nenjam," and there hasn't been another Malayalam singer who shone as brightly in Tamil. Apart from Malayalam and Tamil, his voice transcended language barriers and reached audiences in Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi.He had reportedly been battling cancer and was undergoing treatment for some time before his death, reported Mathrubhumi.