Chamara Weerasinghe

Chamara Weerasinghe (born 21 April 1981 චාමර වීරසිංහ) is a Sri Lankan singer and composer. Passionately known as Singer of Heart (Hadawathe Gayakaya), Weerasinghe is one of the most popular artists in Sri Lanka, with a career spanning over two decades. Weerasinghe sang many popular songs and is also an outstanding singer on the outdoor musical stage. He won the Most Popular Singer award in multiple occasions. The health issues since 2017 made him to slow his singing career, but recovered well from number of hospitalizations.

Personal life
Chamara Weerasinghe was born on 21 April 1981 as the fifth child of the family with 5 siblings. He has three elder sisters, one elder brother and one younger brother. His father was a tailor and mother Ediketiye Hewage Shikshitha Manel from Walgama, Matara was a housewife. His father died when Chamara was 11 years old.

He is married to Prasangi Weerasinghe and the couple has one son and one daughter.

Career
During school times, he started to learn music and art. He also staged a solo musical concert when he was a kid. Later he joined with the musical band "Purple Range" as the lead singer and continued to dominate outdoor musical shows throughout the country. In the meantime, he sang popular songs such as: Dakuṇē Pin Athi, Aetugala Vehera Vadina, Væl Doḍam Malak, Kiri Veheraṭa, Kandē Vihārē, Sonduru laduni, Sitin Vitharak, Amāvakaṭa Atha Vananā, Bæddaṭa Sanda Wage, Sandaṭa Sanda Eliyaṭa, Budu Padavi Pathāgena, Sudu Sadun Malaka, Oya Susum, Thanuva Ahimi, Uḍavæḍiyā Malak, Madunāgala Ahasē and Thaṇamalvila.

Weerasinghe won the Most Popular Male Singer of the year award at the 12th, 14th SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards.

Health issues
In 2016, he was injured with a road accident while riding the motor bike. In December 2021 he was hospitalized in a Dubai hospital with an illness.

On 17 December 2023, Weerasinghe was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital due to prolonged illness of respiratory obstruction. With many fans started to gather around the hospital, hospital informed that only close relatives are allowed to visit him. Even though several rumors circulated that he died from the illness, people around the country started to pray and perform Bodhi Pooja.