Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 - 11 December 2004), also known as M. S. Subbulakshmi, renowned was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

Subbulakshmi (Kunjamma to her family) was born in Madurai, Madras Presidency, India to veena player Shanmukavadiver Ammal and Subramania lyer. Her grandmother Akkammal was a violinist. She started learning Carnatic music at an early age and trained in Carnatic music under the tutelage of Semmangudi Srinivasa lyer and subsequently in Hindustani music under Pandit Narayanrao Vyas. Her mother, from the devadasi community, was a music exponent and a regular stage performer, and Subbulakshmi grew up in an environment very conducive to music.

Subbulakshmi gave her first public performance, at the age of eleven, in the year 1927, in the 100 pillar hall inside the Rockfort Temple, Tiruchirappalli. This was organised by the Tiruchirappalli based Indian National Congress leader F. G. Natesa lyer. In 1936 Subbulakshmi moved to Madras (now Chennai). She also made her film debut in Sevasadan in 1938. Her debut to the world of cinema was again opposite F. G. Natesa lyer: who had introduced her as a child prodigy to the world of Carnatic music a decade earlier, in Tiruchirappalli.
MS acted in a few movies too. Shakunthala, Savithri and Meera being famous. Her Meera Bhajans are still the finest rendition.