Sunil Perera, one of the stalwarts of Sri Lanka’s baila genre musicand the leader of the highly popular band ‘Gypsies’ died today at theage of 68.
He is believed to have died of Covid-related complications.Ivor Sylvester Sunil Perera (14 September 1952 – 6 September 2021);popularly known as Sunil Perera, was a vocalist, guitarist, songwriterand composer.
He was the leader and the lead vocalist of the popularSri Lankan band, The Gypsies. Sunil remains one of the most famoussingers in the country, while his band, The Gypsies, remains one ofSri Lanka’s biggest musical franchises for the past three decades,with regular foreign tours, several hit albums and sold-out concerts.
He was regarded as one of the stalwarts of Sri Lanka’s baila genre andwas also nicknamed as “Baila Chakravarthy”.He was born on 14 September 1952 in a family with ten siblings. Hisfather Anton Perera was also an ex-army person and later a musicianwho formed the original Gypsies band. Anton was a clerk at thegovernment Postal Department.
His mother was Dorine Perera. Hecompleted his education at St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa untilgrade four and St. Peter’s College, Colombo. He was a member of theschool band.Sunil was married to Geetha Kulatunga and the couple has two sons –Sajith, Gayan; and two daughters – Rehana, and Manisha.Geetha was bornon 18 March 1967 as the second of the family with four siblings. Herfather Mahinda Kulatunga, is a Sub- Inspector of the Police.
Mother isDunitha Kulatunga. She studied in about 7-8 schools and her lastschool was Mahamaya Girls’ College, Kandy. Sunil met Geetha during herO/L classes. In 1981, she went for a show by the Gypsies with hersister and cousins.[6]On October 25 in 1981, Sunil was arrested by Homagama police due tothe fact Geetha’s parents had lodged a complaint at the Police sayingthat Sunil had abducted Geetha. However, the case was closed by boththe parents, Geetha’s parents never allowed her to have an affair withSunil.
Later they got engaged with parents’ blessing when Geetha was16 years old.Elder son, Sajith is married to Tahani, daughter of singer DalreenSuby. Sajith worked at Ceylinco Group and currently runs ownAdvertising business. Gayan is a musician who formed the popular band”Daddy”. The band produced many popular songs such as Massina, AiKale, Aale, Chandrayan Pidu, Dagalanna Ba. They have released twoalbums, The first album is ‘Massina’ and the second album is called‘Arabiya’. Both Sajith and Gayan studied at St. Peter’s College.
Rehana is a housewife and Manisha followed a Fashion Designing course.Both Rehana and Manisha studied at St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo.[6]Lanthra Perera, who formed the band “Doctor” is the son of Sunil’sbrother Nimal Perera. In August 2021, he was tested positive forCOVID-19 and rumours of his death started circulating in social media.He was treated at a private hospital in Colombo and made a recoveryfrom COVID-19.
However, after a few weeks from complete recovery, on 5September 2021 he was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital inColombo due to severe COVID pneumonia and passed away in the earlyhours of the 6th of September 2021 due to COVID-19 at the age of 68.At the age of 11, he started to play guitar. His father initiallyexpected him to pursue his higher studies and then to make him aprofessional doctor. However, he was not able to pursue his highereducation due to inadequate results in GCE O/L examinations.
Hisfather made arrangements for Sunil to do GCE O/L examination privatelybut Sunil again could not produce expected results in order to furthercontinue his studies.[18] Sunil later conveyed his interest on musicto his father. In 1969 at the age of 15 as soon as he left school,Sunil joined the band The Gypsies created by his father, Anton Pereraalong with his brothers – Nihal, Lal, Nimal, Piyal and uncle’s son,grandpa’s son and daughter, there were all seven of the crew.[19] Helearned guitar under Vincent Jayawardane and George Ferdinando and hadvoice training under Loren Abeysekara, Lily Godridge and MaryanneDavid.
Sunil was the main vocalist of the band along with his brother PiyalPerera. Their first hit Linda Langa Sangamaya was released in1972/1973 along with Amma Amma Me Mata. In mid 1970s, his otherbrothers left the band and got involved in business activities. In1980, Gypsies released the first cassette with the songKurumitto.Other tracks sung by Gypsies include, Kadapathakin, NoneMage Sudu None (1977), Lunu Dehi (1987), Uncle Johnson (1987), OyeOjaye (1989), Piti Kotapan None and Signore (1997).
Sunil’s recent works such as I don’t know Why address meresociopolitical issues through humor. However, several of his songshave been banned by the state media due to criticizing the government.In 2017, he released the song Koththamalli. He also sang and releasedBuongiorno in 2018 which was the first hit song to be released underGypsies label after a gap of four years.In 2019, he sang the songDiyawannawe Inna for the film Jaya Sri Amathithuma.
The band The Gypsies celebrated the Golden Jubilee in 2021 byarranging concert via virtual platforms.Sunil Perera recently came up with his own ideology about thesociopolitical situation in the country.[ He was highly critical ofSri Lankan society and politics.
He openly talked about sensitivetopics such as sex which are often deemed as taboo subjects inconservative Sri Lanka.In January 2017, Sunil went to the Department of Inland Revenue andinsisted that he should pay income tax. Earlier, he had been payingtax for his income as a member of the music group only.
Details Courtesy: Wikipedia