first song for Radio Ceylon, "Alehi Bendi Jeewitha". It was written by Aloy Gunawardena around a Mohamed Sally melody. However, his father died five days before the song was aired. He subsequently had several popular songs on the radio, "Podi Kale Api Denna," "Oba Wewa Wewa Pahana Mage", "Sikuru liya Komala liya" and "Kalyaniye." Milton was very close with Alloy Gunawardene, Jothipala and Karunaratne Abeysekera. Milton along with Jothipala sang 'Song Debate' which became known as 'Ananga Wadaya' in the music world with the help of Karunaratne Abeysekera and Gunaratne Abeysekera. At the age of 14, when Raj Kapoor, Nargis Thalada and a group of actors came to Sri Lanka in 1954, he got to play the Tabla for their dancing and singing by Thalad Mohammad. He also played Dholak at special festivals. Milton rose to prominence as a film playback singer in the 1960s. Milton debut to playback singing came with a song on Kurulu Bedda (1961). In his 30 year career in the field, he provided his voice to actors like Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrama, Tony Ranasinghe, Vijaya Kumaratunga, Ananda Jayaratne, D. R. Nanayakkara, Anthony C. Perera and Stanley Perera in such films as Adata Wediya Heta Hondai, Dheewarayo, Yatagiya Dawasa, Allapu Gedara, Bicycle Hora, Daru Duka, Sarawita, Ataweni Pudumaya, Chandiya and Deiyange Theenduwa. Milton won Award for the Best Singer at the 1966 Sarasavi Awards and was named the Most Popular Singer of the Year at the Golden Sankha Awards sponsored by Vogue Jewelers the same year. The Sinhala Baila song Pissu Vikare (Dagena Polkatu Male) by H. R. Jothipala, Milton Perera, M. S. Fernando is a cover version of the Tamil song Dingiri Dingale (Meenachi) from the 1958 Tamil film Anbu Engey. And it was covered again in Sinhala as a folk song named Digisi/Digiri Digare (Kussiye Badu). Filmography References External links Milton Perera - මිල්ටන් පෙරේරා Songs on line Sri Lankan Buddhists 20th-century Sri Lankan male singers Sinhalese singers 1938 births 1991 deaths Hindustani musicians