Veteran singer Yesudas was named to receive the coveted Padma Vibhushan award. It is India`s second highest civilian award.

Yesudas bagged it for his immense contribution in the field of playback singing and carnatic music. The melodious evergreen voice is been heard by Malayalees for the past 50 years and he has sung more than 50,000 songs. He has sung in most languages in India and has great fan base pan India.

He received Padma Sree award in the year 1975. In 2005 he was awarded Padma Bhushan. He won the state award for best singer 43 times.

K. J. Yesudas is known as Ganagandharvan` in Kerala.