Victor Rathnayake

Rathnayake Arachchilage Victor (Sinhala:වික්ටර් රත්නායක; born 18 February 1942), popularly known as Victor Rathnayake, is a Sri Lankan singer, composer, lyricist and a renowned musician.

Rathnayake was born on 18 February 1942 in a small village near Kadugannawa as the third of the family with 10 siblings.

His father was Rathnayake Arachchilage Don James.

He was popularly known as Rathnayake Veda Mahaththaya, was an apothecary and sang "noorthi gee," a type of Sinhala folk songs.

His mother was Abeykoon Mayadunnelage Sumanawathi.

Victor was educated at Kadugannawa Junior School and then attended to Kadugannawa Maha Vidyalaya for secondary education.

One of his brothers, Somapala Rathnayake was a renowned musician in Sri Lanka, who worked mostly in background music for many Sinhala films and television serials.

Rathnayake has one daughter and two sons from first marriage with Chithra Rathnayake.

His daughter Chandani is a dancer and a vocalist.

His elder son Jayantha Rathnayake is a renowned musician and composer.

Jayantha started his music career as the keyboard player in Sihashakthi musical band.

Jayantha is married as has one daughter and one son.

His younger son Lelum is also a musician and singer who worked in a musical band.

Under the guidance of school music teacher K. M. Sugathapala, Rathnayake performed first in both the 1958 and 1959 solo singing competitions of the All Island Inter-School Musical Competition.

Victor got his first instrument at the age of nine when his father presented him a harmonium for his birthday.

He studied singing and various instruments under musician Cyril Perera at the M.G.P. Institute in Mulgampola in his teens.

In 1963, he began attending the State Music College, now known as the Institute of Aesthetic Studies.

He wrote his first song, an ode to Buddha, in 1964; it received play on radio stations run by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1969, Rathnayke joined the Ministry of Education as a music instructor, and was assigned to a post at Eththalapitiya Maha Vidyalaya in Bandarawela in 1966.

He would later look back to his days as a teacher in his song "Sihil Sulang Ralle," which described the beauty of his surroundings that he noted as he travelled on the train to the school.

The lyrics were penned by Sena Weerasekera on Rathnayake's recollections.

Rathnayke first recorded a song as a singer for the radio play Manichora by veteran lyricist Piyasena Costa.

The song was Devangana Paradana Komala Katha.

The first radio disc in Victor's name was in "Pancha Madhura" program produced by Madawala S. Peiris.

The song Hade Susuman Pathitha Weemen was composed by the musician DR Peiris, written by Dalton Alwis.

Then veteran lyricist Arisen Ahubudu wrote two songs for Rathnayake, Sende Binde Mohaduru Paapa and Golu Muhude Muthu Aete.

He sang two songs in his maiden musical show as a professional artist.

Mahagama Sekara was the first person to introduce Ratnayake into playback singing.

Rathnayake sang the song Sara Sonduru Mal Patali with Nanda Malini for the film Hanthane Kathawa.

He was the first Sri Lankan artist to hold a solo concert; His concert known as "SA" was first performed in 1973, and was an instant success.

Rathnayake credits his success to his "fitting blend of Western music with Ragadari classical music."

His songs deal with diverse themes that vary from love, to patriotism and Buddhism.

Matara Achchi is the first film he composed music for and its Sandakada Pahana song sung by Sunil Edirisinghe is still very popular among Sinhala music fans.

Rathnayake also has composed music for films like Siribo Aiya, Podi Malli, Sarungale, Hulavali and Athuru Mithuru.

By 1973, Rathnayake was a trained musician and noted that there were no concerts of solo artists.

On 6 April 2020, his elder son Jayantha Rathnayake died at the age of 52 while receiving treatments at Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama.

Rathnayake is currently married to Hashini Amendra, 40 years younger than him.

Rathnayake was 75 years old at the marriage.

Hashini is a bank employee.

His first music teacher was D.A.D. Dharmadasa.