Dharmaratne Brothers was an influential

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n music group, composed of the brothers Christie, Maxwell, Melroy and Ronald Dharmaratne. They were the first all family Sinhala pop group, and racked up several hits in the late '60s and early '70s.

Early years

The brothers first began singing together at family gatherings. By 1967, they had decided to pursue a musical career. They sang on stage for the first time at "Asiri Kusum," a fund raiser for St. Bridget's Convent. They shared the bill with other harmony vocal groups like La Ceylonians, Moonstones, La Lavinians, Los Flamingos, Humming Birds, La Bambas, Los Muchachos and Trio Los Serenaders. In July, the following year, the group recorded some songs written by Melroy on the Phillips Label (after being discovered by Patrick Corea), that included "Vessa Wahinawa," "Punchi Hurathala," and "Kandukare." These proved to be successes, each selling over 3,000 copies.

Success

The Dharmaratne Brothers next recorded for the Sooriya label, and had hits with "Varsity Kello", "Suhada Pathum", "Sahodarayo Hathardena" and "Kellani me Ahapalla." Around this time, in the early '70s, their niece Shiromie Fernando also entered the music field, and had hits of her own. With the popularity of the group, Melroy got the chance to write songs for other popular musicians of the time. He was particularly happy to work with his idol

H. R. Jothipala Hettiarachchige Reginald Jothipala (; 12 February 1936 – 7 July 1987), popularly as H. R. Jothipala, was a Sri Lankan playback singer in the Sinhalese language, Sinhala cinema as well as a film actor and producer. Considered as the best playb ...

. For Jothipala, Melroy composed "Oba Nidanna," "Mal Ethano," "Gangawai-Mahamuhudai," and "Malin Peeregiya" among others.

Dissolution and comeback

Over the years the group slowly drifted apart; Christie accepted a job in the Middle East in 1978 causing the group to go on hiatus, and Ronald died in 1987 in a bus accident. In recent years, the three remaining group members have reconvened and regained some of their early popularity. In addition to music, Melroy has done directing work for

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s and stage dramas, written

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and film script writing and has worked as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for several publications including ''Lake House''. He has also authored several novels.Daily Mirror
"Milroy's 35 years of Songs"
. ''Daily Mirror''. Retrieved November 19, 2006.

Notes

External links

Dharmaratna Brothers celebrate 40 years in music

The Dharmaratne Brothers' page on Sinhala Jukebox

Collection of Sinhala Video Songs
{{Sinhala Music , state=collapsed Dharmaratne Brothers