Rookantha Gunathilaka
Rookantha is a popular Sri Lankan singer, songwriter and composer. Rookantha started his career as a solo singer in late 1980s. He frequently duets with his wife Chandralekha Perera.
Rookantha is one of the most successful musicians in Sri Lankan pop industry. His albums have sold around 10,000 copies in Sri Lanka. He is known as the "King of Pop" in Sri Lanka, Succeeded by Clarence Wijewardena.
Rookantha Goonatillake was born in Kegalle to a middle-class family in Sri Lanka. From his young ages, Rookantha loved music. His initial music teacher was Ms.Sheryl Perera.
As a result, his parents sent him to a music teacher nearby to teach him to play the keyboards.
He learned music at his school, St. Anthony's College, Kandy from great musicians such as Mr. Stanley Peiris and Mr. Cyril Brown. Soon, Rookantha gave up his music lessons, and started to play his very own songs, according to his way. By doing so, Rookantha had the opportunity to experiment with new songs.
Rookantha Goonatillake originally in 1976 pursued a career as a composer. In 1985 he composed 12 songs for Mr. Cyril Mannakkara who came from Switzerland .Cyril though voiced 2 songs and asked Rookantha to sing the rest of songs and went back to Switzerland
His song "DIGANTHAYE" featured in the "WORLD CHART SHOW" produced by RADIO EXPRESS in L.A during the late 90's. Rookantha has got awards as: BEST PLAYBACK SINGER OF THE YEAR 1994 ('Suwanda Danee' from film 'Saptha Kanya') and 1995 ('Siyumali Rosa Malee'from film ‘Chitti’) He recently appeared as one of the main judges in a reality talent show "SIRASA SUPER STAR" (American Idol concept) Rookantha most recent album was named "MAIME INDAN" which was released on the 21st of August 2005 along with his wife Chandralekha's album named "MAGE ADARE", during their exclusive show, "RU SANDA RAE The Concert" at the famous BMICH in SriLanka.
Rookantha has released 5 albums. His first album was "AADARA REKHA" released in 1983. His second album "BAMBARA PAHASA" in 1988 and sold over 150,000 copies. His third album "DIGANTHAYE" was in 1992 and sold over 100,000 copies. At present he is working on variety of music ventures.
