“Arnon Ray” Pereira (born May 26,1992) is a Sri Lankan Indie soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Mount Lavinia, Colombo. He is best known for his 2019 song “ Rich Friends “ (a social commentary on the Colombo Neuvaux Riche) This song went on to be a collaborative project with the Thai Label “ Rats Records “ .

 

Arnon Ray was born in Jayawardanapura, Colombo and after two years his family moved to his maternal village of Thalatuoya, Kandy where they spent 3 years before moving to back to Mount Lavinia, Colombo where Arnon schooled and grew up.

 

Following the split of his parents Arnon began living with his grandparents and seeking refuge from the chaos of divorce in music.  His grandmother Jean Norma is a renowned Jazz singer in Colombo and is accompanied by his Grandfather on Jazz saxophone. As a child his evenings and weekends  were spent travelling with them to their shows and sitting in the wings watching the pair perform.  Arnon’s grandparents instilled in him the art of performance and the importance of creating authentic connections through music. 

 

Arnon learned to play the guitar by playing simple chords to accompany his lyrics. While working for a bar in Torrington Colombo, he played countless open-mics until he started gigging as a full time musician playing at hotel lobbies, Restaurants and bars.It was his song “Favourites”, about falling in love in his mom’s Village home town, Kandy, that first defined his style and Arnon from then started gradually falling on his authentic style for Soul Ballads.