Kumar Navaratnam was a popular rock and roll singer in Colombo, Sri Lanka during the 1960s and 1970s.
Thus, the emergence of Western rock bands in the 1980s was regarded as an unusual phenomenon.
Further, Navaratnam was a minority Tamil musician in a field dominated by Goans, foreigners and other locals.
His departure to Bourneville, USA at the height of his popularity in the late 1970s created a void in the music scene in Sri Lanka that lasted for sometime.
Kumar remains regarded as a pioneer of Sri Lankan Western music.