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Hello all!
I know that many of you have been wanting to know so much about me, how I became blind, how I read Emails and web sites, how I started playing the piano and became interested in music, etc. Well, what I am going to do for you now is write a rather lenghthy biography answering many of the questions which people have been asking me throughout the years. I hope this story answers many of them for you. To begin with I was born on the 16th of September in the year of 1984 in Sri Lanka in a city called Panadura which isn't too far from Colombo. I was born at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon my mother can't remember which day it was but anyhow, I was born there in the Panadura hospital. Now my father at that time unfortunately couldn't make it because he was working in Jemaica and my mother was afraid to give birth to me in Jemaica I guess because she wasn't sure whether she could trust the doctors there or whatever I'm not sure. So she gave birth to me in Sri Lanka and it was at this time that they noticed that something was not quite right with my eyes. I think one of my eyes were red and I guess everyone over there somehow noticed that something wasn't quite right with them. So a few months later my parents and I flew to England to check with a doctor there just to see what was wrong and it was then that he told my parents that I was totally blind and have the exact same eye condition that my uncle has. He is by the way my mom's brother. You see folks my uncle is also blind and he has the same eye condition that I have called Noris Disease. Well, needless to say my parents were shocked and my mother suffered quite a nervous breakdown for a couple of years I guess she just couldn't believe she had a blind child. It took quite a while to get over it I'll tell you friends and thinking about it now it must have been a great shock to my uncle and to everyone in Sri Lanka, all my cousins must have been devistated over the fact that I couldn't see. So we then flew to Bermuda because my father had another job there so my parents called my aunt to come live with us for a couple of years. She is my dad's sister and I'll tell you folks, this really, really made my mother a lot happier because you know she was just so upset at the fact that I was blind just like her brother and my aunt of course is an extremely loving and caring person like my mother. So she took care of me for two years and she was extremely supportive to my family. My mother was just too nervous and depressed I guess to look after me so my aunt kind of counselled her a little and helped her overcome the shock. You know it's not easy to remember all these things of course because I was a little toddler then!:) I don't even remember my aunt looking after me in Bermuda during those two years of my life!:) Well, shortly after she left it was then that I started to become very interested in music. My parents had a lot of cassettes and of course back then we had a record player unlike now. CD's were just starting to hit the stores so my father had a lot of cassettes of artists such as Elvis whom I am a huge fan of, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones his older stuff same with Engelbert, Jim Reeves, my mother's favorite Whitney Houston and a bunch of others. As much as I hate to tell you I had to grow up listening to Michael Jackson's Bad album which I believe came out shortly after my 1st birthday in 1985! Well, he wasn't that bad of a singer back then you know he was fun to dance to. I really enjoyed him then I especially loved Man In The Mirror which was from that same album. I started singing to Engelbert's Release me and Tom Jones's Green, Green, Grass Of Home and believe it or not I still have a tape of me singing those songs and on the other side I am playing with toys and crying. It's really funny! When I was 3 years old my father bought a small organ they found at a store in Bermuda. I then became extremely interested and that is how I started playing. I can still remember the very first song I ever learned was Joy To The World. Oneday I played it while my mother and grandmother were in the kitchen and I can still remember they were shocked! Of course I couldn't play it that well but they were so amazed at how I could pick things up by ear and so quickly! My grandmother came to live with us from Sri Lanka and she was with us from 87 to 89. We moved to Canada in 1989 and she came with us and lived with us for a year. She then went back to Sri Lanka in the summer of 1990 so I was alone again with my parents but at that time I guess I didn't mind it too much. It was in 1990 while my grandmother was with us that I first started to learn braille. I went to a school in Brampton called St. Brigit and I learned my very first letters in braille and it was great! I learned how to spell my name and how to braille it out and believe me all the teachers were so impressed at the way I could easily remember things and learn so quickly! I could pick up things so fast it was unbelievable! It's like music you know I could listen to a song on the radio or a CD and could easily pick it up by ear and play it on the piano! Everyone says that I am a gifted musician and believe me I appreciate that ever so much indeed. I'll tell you folks it is really really difficult being blind and it isn't easy for a lot of people me included, but you'll just never know how blessed I am to have been able to learn all these fine things. On September 16, 1992 my life totally changed! That was when I turned 8 years old and I will never forget that day for as long as I live. My aunt bought a CD and I can still remember her telling me that I will really enjoy it because there is a lot of beautiful piano playing on it! Oh my gosh folks was she ever right!!! I'll tell you now, if my aunt hadn't bought that CD, I wouldn't have even heard of this true legend. Let me tell you something right now, when I first heard Last Date, that really, really blew me away. From that day on, I couldn't stop playing this CD and I am having tears in my eyes as I write this. It brings back so many beautiful memories for me I'll tell you, I was in grade 3 at the time and that was an extremely happy year for me. You'll just never know how much I fell in love with this piano player and I was so amazed at the way he played. The way he played many of those classics were just so unusual unlike other piano players and friends, from that day on he is my idol. The man's name is of course, Mr. Piano himself, the legendary Floyd Cramer. Floyd has played on countless recordings by so many artists it's hard to name them all but a few of them are Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Elvis of course, Hank Locklin one of the first to have that famous slip note style on Please Help Me I'm Falling, George Morgan, and many many more. I'll tell you folks I was a long way from learning how to play like him and the beautiful piano stylings of this gifted pianist. Sadly, Floyd passed away in 1997 and it was such a tragic loss to the country music world and to the music industry. I'll always give Floyd so much credit for helping me improve my piano playing and a lot of people tell me that I could be the next Floyd Cramer! However I simply smile and say, there will never be another Floyd Cramer folks. However I am mighty proud to continue keeping his popularity alive. Everything went out extremely well for me from 89-96 when we lived in Brampton. Those were extremely happy years for me. So we then moved to England in January of 1996 after living in Brampton for 6 years. We lived in a city called Kingswood, a town in Surrey which is not too far from London I guess and it was great! I went to a school there called Oxted County and I'll tell you folks the staff and students there were brilliant as they would say over there!!!:) They of course like in Brampton had a visually impaired unit which I was involved in, however I was the only totally blind student at that school! It's scary when you think about it I'll tell you!:) There were many students I met there and most of those students at this visually impaired unit were parcially sighted meaning they couldn't see too well, but I was the only student there who couldn't see anything at all. I of course learned so much over there and the people in England were extremely kind to me indeed. I learned so many outstanding things over there such as history, English, geography, typing, math, music, my teachers helped me improve my spellings and writing and it's unbelievable that so many people now have complemented me on my writing. Of course my writing has improved so much since I moved back to Canada in 1998. It was there when I first appeared on radio for the first time of my life and oh gosh, that has always been my dream come true. It was on a London station called Capital Gold and I got to actually play the piano over the phone and I even went to the station a couple of times. It was great! The man's name is Caesar but he is professionally known as Caesar The Geezer. He is an extremely funny man but I'm sorry to say that he has been fired a few times and it was while I was there as a matter of fact when we heard the sad news that he went to prison. He was a bit of a silly person but he was my favorite. Thinking back now I have to agree that he wasn't a very decent person he did things to make people very angry and even my parents didn't like his attitude much on the air. It was also while I was in England folks when I started developing terrible anxiety attacks and severe panick attacks in school. You see, part of it was because I had a very strict teacher named Mrs. Evans who I give a lot of credit for and you know thinking about it now folks I am so glad she was a strict teacher because she taught me how to listen better in class, how to type sentences better, how to write comprehentions etc. However if she still taught me now and if she tried to be strict with me I'd mouth right back at her!!!:) My mouth has gotten quite big since I have grown I'll tell ya!:) Another thing was I for some reason developed a stutter when I was about 3 or 4 years old and this is something which I will never overcome. It seemed to have affected me more and more when I was in England and that is also why I was so nervous in class I absolutely hated reading out loud and doing the attendents. I was so afraid that people would laugh at me if I stutter but now I guess it's not too bad because if they laugh at me in class I'd give them a good telling off right in front of the teacher and a good whip in their butts!!!:) Now of course I don't stutter as much as I did but still do it every now and then and it can get quite embarrassing for me at times. I didn't take medication while I was there for my anxiety, but now I am taking medication for sleeping and also for my depression and emotional difficulties which I suffer a lot. You see friends I get angry a lot now and I tend to take it out when it's not even necessary. I deeply regret this and I at times wish I never even had to come into this world. I at times wish I could be dead right this very minute with all the garbage I have had to suffer over the years. However now my new motto is, keep the faith and think positive everyday! So many people tell me that I am politer than other youngsters and this really touches me so much. I could really help people and other young students you know, I'd do absolutely anything to help them with their manners, etc. So anyhow when we moved back to Canada in 1998 to Mississauga where we are living to this day, I attended a school for the blind in Brantford which is about 45 minutes away from Mississauga called W. Ross Macdonald school. There I met some very fine folks but I will never forget December of 1999!!! My second year there at that school was when I met one of the most sweetest people ever and now I am so blessed to have her as a friend. Her name is Ms. Leah Christensen. The two of us have so much in common folks because she, too, loves Floyd Cramer but here's the best part! She has actually met the man shortly before his passing!!! Boy that sure made this ole countryboy jealous!!!:) Only kidding, but I'll tell you something when I met Leah we couldn't stop talking about Floyd and the old time music I am just so blessed to have met her that year. Like me, she is into old time country, big band and music from all over the world including russian music. Now of course Leah and I always keep in touch. She and I are a part of an outstanding yahoogroup called am740 which is one of Canada's outstanding AM stations which play our type of music! I highly recommend it to all of you out there it's one of the finest groups ever to talk about all kinds of music big band, country, rock and roll and well, to basically have fun and make new friends! So when I was at W. Ross Macdonald I lived in residence from 1998 to 2001 and from September of 2001 to June of 2003, I became a day student. When I moved to Mississauga in 1998 it was then when I started becoming very very interested in the old time country music. My parents now always say that they can't understand for the life of them why I am so much into these old time artists such as Eddy Arnold, Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry, Hank Snow,, Gordon Lightfoot another hero, Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Burl Ives, Porter Wagoner, The Louvin Brothers, The Stonemans, George Morgan, The Browns, of course who can ever forget the legendary hillbilly shake spear Hank Williams SR, Big Bill Lister, Texas Jim Robertson, T. Texas Tyler, Charlie Pride, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Warren Smith, Don Williams, Loretta Lynn, Alan Jackson, Boots Randolph, Buddy Holly, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline, The Jordanaires, Donna Darlin, Beford Bailey, Uncle Jimmy Thompson, Emmet Miller, The Delmore Brothers, Stringbean, Grant Turner, The Statler Brothers, The Anita Kerr Singers, Mac Wiseman, Patsy Montana, The Wilburn Brothers, The Everly Brothers, George Hamilton IV, Stu Phillips, Tommy Hunter, Stompin' Tom Connors, Wilf Carter, Reba McEntire, Jim and Jesse, Don Messer, Homer and Gethro, Sheb Wooley, Rex Allen, Johnny Paycheck, Red Steagall, Sonny James, Roger Miller, another hero Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Red Foley, Johnny And Jack, Tex Ritter, George Jones, of course Gentleman Jim, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Carl and Pearl Butler, of course Floyd Cramer, Conway Twitty, Jerry Reed, Ray Stephens, Milton Brown, Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Del Reeves no relation to Jim, Ferlin Husky, Tex Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Buck Owens, Jimmie Dean, Tex Owens, Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Pat Boone, Little Jimmie Dickens, Pee Wee King, Red Stuart, Stewart Hamblen, Moon Mullican, Dick Curless, Eddie Dean, Johnny Bond, Jimmie Wakely, Lefty Frizzell, Webb Pierce, Kitty Wells, Johnny Horton, Bob Luman, Jean Shepard, Bill Anderson, Billie Walker, Charlie Walker, Carl Smith, Slim Whitman, Slim Dusty, Kenny Roberts, Elton Britt, Charlie Rich, Hank Thompson, Rick Nelson, Johnny Russel, Hank Locklin, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Chris Cristopherson, Spade Cooley, Cal Smith, Jack Greene, Charlie Louvin from the Louvin Brothers, Faron Young, Pete Castle, Ronnie Milsap one of my favorites and who I had the pleasure of seeing in concert and he too is blind, Marty Robbins, Roy Drusky, Rex Griffin, Freddie Hart, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Elvis of course, Don Gibson, Harlan Howard, Claude Gray, Jimmie Osborne, Skeets McDonald, Ray Price, my good buddy Ernie Ashworth, Bobby Bare, Ray Pillow, Stonewall Jackson, Leon Payne, Hank Cochran, Claude King, Hank Garland, Floyd Tillman, Jimmie Davis the man who wrote You Are My Sunshine and the governour of Louisiana, Roy Acuff, another special friend Jim Ed Brown from the Browns, Merle Haggard, Marion Worth, Justin Tubb the son of Ernest, Foy Willing and the riders of the purple sage, Brenda Lee, Grandpa Jones, Hank Penny, I even go way back to the early days of country music with the legendary blue yodeler Jimmie Rodgers, Riley Puckett, the original Carter Family, Vernon Dalhart, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Roy Rodgers and the list just goes on and on. I know I must have named nearly every hall of fame member!:) Like Hank Snow once said in the early 80's, half of today's country music is a joke and not even worth listening to. Many of the songs you can't even understand the words to and friends, I totally and wholeheartedly agree with him on this. We sadly lost Hank in December of 1999 at the age of 85 and I was really sad indeed because he has always been my idol along with Jim Reeves. You see friends in Sri Lanka or Ceylon as it was known way back then, Jim Reeves, Elvis, Hank Snow, Hank Locklin and a bunch of others were very popular and that is how I was raised listening to these artists. I also will never forget one Wednesday Afternoon in late September of 2001. That was the year I got one of the most prized possessions which I will always be most greatful for all my life. It was the award winning Bear Family 16 CD box set of Gentleman Jim Reeves containing every studio recording he ever made in cronological order. This was given to me by a very dear friend who was also a huge fan of Jim and this was a belated present for my 17th birthday. You can replace all your Jim Reeves albums with this box set and if you don't have this set, I will be more than delighted to make you a copy of It for free! You can contact me at my address which I will get into later. This set also includes a bunch of previously unreleased recordings plus some very early radio performances with only Jim and his guitar plus some rare demos. I have completely lost touch with this friend of mine now but I will always be greatful for her for buying this once in a life time gift for me. I will never forget the day I got it I was going through so much in my life at that time for I had a rather stormy relationship with my first girlfriend and I suffered a severe depression. As many of you know, Jim was very sadly killed in a plane crash which he was piloting on July 31, 1964. Of course a year before that on March 5, 1963 Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were also killed in a plane crash piloted by Randy Hews which killed him also. Then in 1965 Ira Louvin from the famous Louvin Brothers was killed in a car accident on route to a concert. Gosh those years were the saddest ever in country and pop music. I then started becoming more and more interested in Frank Sinatra's work and of course, my hero, Dino!!! I guess that's why a lot of people say that my sense of humour has grown so much because friends, when I first heard Dean Martin talk on a long time Frank Sinatra radio show hoasted by Sid Mark, I heard one of Frank and Dean's comedy segments I believe it was at the Sans Hotel in 1962. It was from an album which came out I believe in 1965 or so called A Man And His Music by Frank Sinatra. I just fell in love with the way Dino joked around and the way he made the audience feel so at home, it was just unbelievable. So I have been trying so hard to collect as many Dino CD's as possible but you see folks me being blind and not having a credit card and all, it's extremely difficult to go out and buy some of these CD's and to order them on these online stores. This is why I want you all to understand that for a person like me who has anxiety problems, depression and disability problems, it is imposible to aford these Bear Family box sets or any box set in particular. Now look at these expensive sets that are out on Sinatra, gosh I have been wanting these for years such as the award winning 20 CD Reprise set but lord all mighty the price is just so expensive and it's not even available in stores anymore. I became a huge fan of Dean and Frank when I heard these two on Sid Mark's show but in my personal opinion, Dino's the best!!! Dean could sing all kind of styles unlike Frank Dino could sing show tunes, pop sstandards and of course, country! Now, to answer many of your questions regarding how I read my Emails and web sites. Well, for all blind people, they have to use a special talking computer which has a voice capability programs. Now, everytime I type out a letter say if I type the letter A or B, the computer talks the letters out to me! Believe me it's amazing what modern technology can do these days. I just love talking computers so much and the voice program that every blind person in Canada and in the US is using is called jaws. I have forgotten what it stands for, but believe me it's an amazing voice software and I love it! Every now and then I get the odd one or two Emails from people saying that I am a lier and that if I wasn't blind how I could possibly read Emails etc. Well now you know! It's great isn't it? I'll tell you something folks when my parents and I were in Sri Lanka for the Christmas holidays, you'll just never know how extremely tragic the Stunami attack was and words can't express how much we sincerely appreciate your concern, thoughts and prayers regarding it all. Everyone was so afraid bless their hearts. God is so good to everyone of us and we weren't swept away by it all. Believe me we are all so thankful that we were saved by all that devistation and this totally changed my life. I was so honoured to have had an interview done while I was there on New Years Day as a matter of fact on a Sri Lankan radio station called SLBC. Then the next day was the happiest day I have ever had in a long long time! Friends, I made my first CD of my favorite country songs and my cousins also contributed! That was the highlight of my entire vacation! Now if you would like to have a copy of this you may Email me at my sympatico address which is below at my signature, but please don't Email me at my hotmail address because that no longer exists.
Well my dear friends I really and truly hope this rather long biography now helps you to understand how difficult it is for a blind person but how exciting it is with a person with a lot of problems to learn so many things and to be blessed by God! However I do want to say this to you all, I would do absolutely anything for anybody because I truly adore people and would be more than happy to help anyone with their music collection anytime! Now quite a few people take offense when I ask them politely for an album that I don't own and if they could please make a copy of it for me on a CD or cassette. Then they start slandering me by saying that I simply like to tell everyone that I am blind to make people feel sorry for me and this is why I ask them to send free CD's, that I break the law, that I'm a fraud and how I am a thief etc etc. I want you to know that this is completely untrue and totally, totally ridiculous. To begin with, how could anyone possibly lie about being blind? That would be such a sin and whoever comes up with all this garbage, in my personal opinion you don't believe in God!!! I just can't understand about today's generation friends, the Internet is a wonderful thing but when it comes to certain individuals it gets out of hand at times. However I want you to know that you can always trust me and I would never, ever give out your privacy such as your Email address out to anybody if you contact me directly. I never ever sell any of what my friends make for me, never! However I do agree with the fact that if a new album by an artist is available in stores you can simply go out and buy the album instead of burning it. So that part I don't have a problem with, but if it is an out of print CD or an LP which isn't available on CD and also these outstanding Bear Family sets and imports, this is when people get all out of line thinking that I would sell all this stuff and that I would be breaking the law, etc. Now people, you have to understand that for a person who can't see and for a person who has a disability of some sort, how could they order a 100 or 200 dollar box set without knowing how to do it? I would do absolutely anything for you all and I would make any of my CD's for you in return. Trading CD's is something I always enjoy doing so much and I will continue doing it for a long long time! One person stated that I am going to get in trouble by record companies, to me that's just plain old bull!!! So what if I get in trouble and go to jail I would tell them the truth!
Well, I think I have written quite enough for now and listen if you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to let me know and I will be more than delighted to answer them for you! I love you all and my thanks to my dear friend Kimmy for her interest in wanting to know more about me. Kimmy runs an outstanding Dean Martin yahoogroup which I highly recommend called dinopallies which is awesome! You can talk a lot about Dino, share stories about him, ask questions about the Rat Pack and more! God bless you Kimmy, we all love you! Let me know what you all think of this biography! I truly hope it wasn't too bad. I must admit I don't do a good job writing a bio on myself but believe me I do the best I can. Take care and I will look forward to all your responses!
Your most special friend, Maheen.
Maheen Wickramasinghe, Mississauga Ontario, Canada Email maheen5894@... MSN maheenwick@...
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