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Neela Wickramasinghe

Overview

Serials & Shows

DOB : 13-03-1950
Date of death: 17-01-2022
Lived For : 71 Years
Star Sign : Pisces
Gender : Female

Skills

» Composer

Written By - Team Nettv4u

Neela Wickramasinghe, born Dona Delicia Neela Wickramasinghe, was a playback singer in the Sri Lankan film industry. She was born on 30th March 1950 to Don Francis Wickramasinghe and Withanaratchige Done Yasawathie Gunasekera. Her elder sister is Dona Aruni Rita Wickramasinghe. Neela was married to Kapila Herath. She went to Kirimatiyagara Vidyalaya. In 1954, she started learning music at Kesbewa Government School. Neela also studied at Mampe Sri Sobhita Maha Vidyalaya and Piliyandala Central College.

Vincent Somapala and Ananda Jayasinghe were her music teachers. In 1959, she debuted as a singer in Radio Ceylon for the program Amateur Voice. In 1963 and 1965, she participated in the All Island Singing Competition and won the first prize. In 1967, she recorded her debut song with Radio Ceylon. In 1968, she was selected as a B-grade singer for Radio Ceylon. In 1969, she worked as a trainee teacher at Gayathri Art Institute of Vincent Somapala. She debuted in the film industry in 1972 in the film Sithijaya as a background score composer. Sarath Dassanayake was the music composer of that movie. In 1973, she was selected as an A-grade artist in SLBC. In 1974, she graduated with a Sangeeth Visharada Degree. In 1979, she crooned the song Vio Gee Gayena Hade for the film Gehenu Lamai. She has sung a lot of songs alongside TM Jayaratne. In 1998, she retired from her teaching profession. She last worked at Visakha Vidyalaya in Colombo. She was a cancer survivor.

In 1984, she received the Sarasaviya Best Female Playback Singer award for Bodhiye Viharaye. In 1986, she received the Sarasaviya Best Female Playback Singer award for Rasa Musuwu Pem Kalpana. In 1992, she received the Sarasaviya Best Female Playback Singer award for Pemakasuwanda Denila. In 1996, she received the Best Teledrama Vocalist Award at the Sumathi Awards. In 2005, she again received the Sarasaviya Best Female Playback Singer award for Kshithijaya Ya Karana. She was honoured with the Hela Maha Rawana Rajabhimani Award in 2019.

Since September 2021, Neela served as Consul General in Milan, Italy. On 17th January 2022, she suffered a massive cardiac arrest and died in Milan. Her mortal remains were brought to Pepiliyana in Dehiwala, and she was laid to rest on 29th January 2022.