Nimal Mendis, well known as the lyricist and composer of the classic masterpiece 'Master Sir' passed away earlier today.

Born on March 29, 1934, Mendis was involved with music from his early childhood.

Nimal Mendis shaped his work by using Sri Lankan folk idiom. He used folk music and mixed them with western overtones.

He lived many years in London but often traveled to Sri Lanka. He had also lived in the South West of France.

In the 1950s, when Radio Ceylon discovered Mendis, it dominated the South Asian airwaves. Therefore the songs composed and written by him turned in to super hits in South Asian region. It is said that listeners who lived in all over the Indian sub-continent wrote to Radio Ceylon and requested his songs.

Nimal Mendis recorded 22 songs including the one which he composed in order to aid 2004 Tsunami victims. His songs were aired by BBC Radio, Premier Radio (UK) and many European radio stations in the 1960s.

He was one of a handful of Sri Lankan musicians to appear on the BBC television programme Top of the Pops in 1968. Mendis was a longstanding member of the Performing Rights Society and the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society of Great Britain.