Vivienne de Silva Boralessa
Vivienne de Silva Boralessa () (24 November 1930 - 2 April 2017) was a Sri Lankan singer known particularly for her Buddhist devotional music. Her fame peaked in the 1950s, in what is known as Sri Lanka's 'gramophone era'. Early life. De Silva was born in 1930 to G.F. de Silva (owner/managing director of Safety Tours; a former manager at the De Zoysa Company and surveyor at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce) and D.L. Sahabandu, in British Ceylon. An only child, Boralessa grew up in a family with close ties to the Ceylonese arts industry, primarily  due to her father G.F. de Silva's work as a playwright and producer, and his patronage of the arts in general. Her first public performance took place in 1938, when she sang welcome songs for performances of two of her father's plays: "The Sad State of Lanka" and "Election Echo", gaining the attention of her uncle, G.R. Edward, in the audience. Edward then convinced Boralessa's parents to allow him to perform a duet with her on Radio Ceylon later that year; she successfully auditioned for Radio Ceylon in 1940, before a panel consisting of Gunapala Malalasekera, S.L.B.  Kapukotuwa, and B.S. Wijeyratne, becoming part of their in-house roster of live singers. As a child singer at Radio Ceylon, Boralessa would initially sing simpler songs, performing live with radio orchestras sourced by her father, quickly being promoted to an A-grade artist in late 1940. Her first solo song was "Chandra de piya". By the mid-1940s, Boralessa was a fairly well-known artist, and had caught the attention of a number of more senior members of the local music industry - one of whom was Sunil Shantha, who visited Boralessa's home in 1946 to invite her to perform  with him. Boralessa and her family accepted the offer, leading to the release of "Ralle Nagenne" that same year. Career. The release of "Ralle Nagenne" is regarded to have been the turning point in Boralessa's career, the association with an artist like Shantha contributing considerably. Inspired by artists such as Wasantha Senanayake, Vincent de Paul Peiris, Susil Premarathna, Grace Sahabandu, Priscilla Opatha, C.T. Fernando, Kanthi Wakwella and Mohideen Baig, she would go on to perform both solo songs (mostly devotional - and patriotic music) and duets with notable artists such as H.R. Jothipala, Haroon Lanthra, Dharmadasa Walpola and Sisira Senarathne , and eventually with her idol C.T. Boralessa expressed a desire to enter the playback music industry, but could not visit India for recording due to objections by her parents. Nevertheless, the early 1950s saw Vivienne enter the peak of her popularity, under the guidance and training of musicologists and composers such as H.W. Rupasinghe ("Rupasinghe master"), Lionel Edirisinghe and Eddie master. Notable songwriters that contributed to her career during this (and later) periods include: Boralessa's work was scored by some of Sri Lanka's most well-known composers, with B.S. Perera, Victor Perera, Premasiri Khemadasa, Sanath Nandasiri and Clarence  Wijewardena among them. Boralessa was also signed on to the HMV label (then under the local oversight of Cargills (Ceylon)) by Gabrielle Gunaratne in 1950. Some of Vivienne's more well-known songs include: While most of Boralessa's work was recorded on gramophone, she released a CD-based album containing her most popular tracks, entitled "Sambudu Mangalle", in 2009. De Silva-Boralessa was the only artist to perform at the 2500th- (1955) and 2550th (2006) Buddha Jayanti as well as the 2600th (2011) Sambuddhatva Jayanthi celebrations held in Sri Lanka; she performed ""Me pin bime"" (""On this hallowed ground ), a song written for the occasion, in a duet alongside her son, Kapila at the latter occasion. She was also awarded the Kalabooshana award by the Sri Lankan Government for her services to the country's music industry. Personal life. Vivienne de Silva-Boralessa married C.D.S. Boralessa (d. 11 March 2013) in 1953 at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. The two met at the wedding of Vivienne Boralessa's uncle G.R. Edward, where Boralessa had approached her as a fan of her work. They had six children- Udaya, Ajith, Indrani, Devapriya, Kapila and Madhavi. Kapila Boralessa is himself a  member of the Sri Lankan music scene and, along with his sister Indrani, holds the rights to their mother's estate. Vivienne de Silva-Boralessa died on 2 April 2017 at the Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital after a brief period of illness.