Desmond de Silva



Desmond Anaclitus Rajiva de Silva (ඩෙස්මන්ඩ් ද සිල්වා in [w:Sinhala|]; 13 July 1944 – 9 January 2022), popularly known as Desmond de Silva, was a Sri Lankan singer, background musician and entertainer. Often regarded as the "King of Baila", he is noted for his youthful voice that was said to have changed little over four decades of performing.

Quotes

 * Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder affecting so many around the world. Autism is not mental illness, these children and adults think differently. Albert Einstein they say was autistic. How many in the audience know that there are 38,000 autistic people in Sri Lanka? So we as entertainers, urge you all to ‘speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves.’ Lets spread awareness of autism, particularly when numbers of autistic children are rising and we urge our government to also provide public services – who knows we may even produce Albert Einsteins if we provide education, health, specialist speech therapy for autistic children in our lovely island....
 * Clickpress release (9 August 2009).