Career
Following brief careers in teaching at Uva College in Badulla (where he met his wife Monica) and as a salesman at Car Mart in Colombo, Vernon Corea joined Radio Ceylon as a Relief Announcer in 1956, he was appointed by the Director of the Commercial Service, the Australian, Clifford Dodd and his assistant Livy Wijemanne. He became well known as The Golden Voice of Radio Ceylon, representing shows of popular music, baila music, and western music. He was later Business Manager, News Director at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.Corea represented the Director-General of the station at a Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference, when he was in the United Kingdom, on a six-month fellowship with the Nuffield Trust in 1970.
From 1956 to 1960, Vernon Corea and other announcers of Radio Ceylon introduced the music of Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Louis Armstrong, Jim Reeves, Hank Snow, and Cliff Richard over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon/Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. They became hugely popular in South Asia.
Throughout his life and his broadcasting career Corea promoted the very best of Sri Lankan talent in the world of popular music. He was the first to consistently promote Sri Lanka's musicians through his highly influential entertainment column - EMCEE published in the Ceylon Daily News in the 1960s-1970s. Vernon introduced hundreds of musicians to listeners at Radio Ceylon/Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and in the studios of BBC Radio London when he presented the popular London Sounds Eastern radio programme. He 'discovered' many young Sri Lankan stars through his radio programmes on Radio Ceylon and promoted their musical talents in the EMCEE column in the Daily News in Colombo. Some went onto the international stage.
Some of Ceylon's first music stars such as Nimal Mendis, Bill Forbes, Des Kelly and Cliff Foenander, were interviewed by Vernon Corea, for Radio Ceylon. Their music was also introduced to a vast audience across the Indian sub-continent - millions tuned into the radio station and Radio Ceylon announcers enjoyed iconic status with South Asian listeners. The respected Hindu Newspaper of India placed Vernon Corea in the Top 5 Broadcasters of the World stating that he introduced Sinhala Music onto the English Services of the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. He was the first to introduce the talents of Clarence Wijewardena, Annesley Malewana, and others on English radio programmes, on Radio Ceylon.
As a special tribute to Vernon Corea's father, Reverend Canon Ivan Corea, the Sri Lankan superstar Clarence Wijewardena composed a moving song about a father's love,'Ma Ethi Dedi Kala Piyaneni.' It was an international hit for Clarence Wijewardena and Annesley Malewana. In an interview, Annesley Malewanna recalls: "When we toured England in 1994 to hold musical shows, Vernon Corea who was in England requested me to sing this particular song. When I got on to the stage and started singing Vernon broke down and all of us were moved by this incident. Wherever we go, most people in foreign countries requested me to sing this song. Now I dedicate that song to my late father," he said.
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