Singing Queen Ruvinie Dunuwille

by Sunil Thenabadu
in Brisbane

Ruvinie Dunuwille was born to a distinguished up-country family on Dec 17, 1964. Her father’s loku amma (her grandaunt), Molly Dunuwille, married Hon. DS Senanayake, signposting her lineage. She had studied at Matale BMS College. Her singing talent was more in herself than her genes.

While in school she won first place for singing when she was very young. Her passion for music had begun at the age of seven when inspired by Indrani Perera’s everlasting hit ‘Dilhani Duwanee’ she had sung this song in a musical contest judged by a panel comprising veteran musicians Narada Dissasekera and Rohana Beddage where she was declared winner. The musical backing was by the then very popular’ SEAC’ entertainments band.

This was the turning point in her career as a novice vocalist. She later impressed with Dunukehiya Mallak Wage, the Sujatha Attanayake hit in a contest in Kandy and continued to shine on other upcountry stages. As she blossomed, her parents suggested she drops the highly respected Dunuwille tag from her stage name as professional singing was then not considered respectable.

In 1980 Ruvinie released her first four songs, including a duet with Gratien Ananda, her idol, in a LP record named “Sinaha Selu.” This was followed in 1982 by the cassette ” Ranin Maala” and in 1983 Ruvinie released a long cassette.’ Her “Gang Thera” was released in 1992, “Santhosa Wanna’ in 1994 followed by a compact disc in 2005. Among those she dueted with were Mervin Perera, Nimal Jayamanna, Keerthi Pasquel etc,

During the era of the early 1980s decade, she had also been judged third runner up in the Miss Sri Lanka beauty contest and in 1985 she was crowned “Rotary Queen” in a contest sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sri Lanka.

Introduced to SLBC by Gratien Ananda in the eighties she was graded an ‘A’ grade singer and interacted with with many well known singers of the time. She became a much sought artiste singing at the Queen’s Club in Kandy for eight years. Many musical cassettes of her own and jointly with other well known singers followed and she often featured in ‘Top of the Pops’ programs here.

She had made her television debut playing a part in Nihal Bertram’s “Suba Prarthana” in the early 80s. This was followed by many teledrama appearances with her voice frequently used on the small screen. She thereafter accepted employment as a receptionist at the Taj Samudra Hotel and was less available for show business.

In 1982 people like Thevis Guruge and PLA Somapala made her a radio and television presenter at SLBC. Rupavahini and ITN. She has been written-up and appeared on the cover of several publications including Birinda and Sarasaviya.

Ruvinie migrated to Melbourne in 1995 and continued her singing career in Australia appearing on the ‘Good Morning Sri Lanka’ program and singing at weddings and parties. She also does voice training sharing her talent with aspirant singers of Sri Lankan descent. The mother of two lovely educated sons in their late twenties, she lives a simple life in Melbourne. Her fans no doubt wishes her very good health and long life.

(sthenabadu@hotmail.com
WhatsApp 0061444533242)