Dilan Jayasingha (born March 14, 1980), known professionally as Dilan Jay, is an American actor, singer, and producer. He was the first artist from his country of heritage (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) to place on the U.S. ''Billboard'' charts and have a No. 1 on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's Most Popular

Music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s. He is considered one of the top artists in Sri Lanka with ten No. 1 musical hits, 2 pop albums, 4 hip hop albums, and 2 acoustic albums. In 2022, he released a feature, "January" with rapper

Money Man Tysen Jay Bolding (born February 27, 1986), known professionally as Money Man (Big money), is an American rapper. In 2020, he released his hit single " 24", which peaked at number 49 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, from his eighteenth mixtape ...

. In 2022, his new pop album's tracks amassed over 2 million Spotify streams, and 3 million Youtube views. Dilan's collaborations include

Ty Dolla $ign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...

, producer from

Black-Eyed Peas The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea. The common co ...

Keith Harris, Jacob Lutrell, and songwriter Darious Coleman. Dilan started his music career under the pseudonym "DeLon" with the hit single "Jeevithe" that became one of the featured tracks on

Yes FM ' Yes 101 (100.8, 101.0 F.M.) is an English radio station in Sri Lanka. Yes FM principally plays contemporary hit music. Yes 101 commenced broadcasting on December 10, 1993, at 6.00 am. It is one of the radio channels owned by The Capital ...

’s official Sri Lankan tsunami release CD, followed with multiple No. 1 radio hits and accolades awarded to him by

Derana Derana TV is a Sri Lankan private entertainment terrestrial television channel broadcasting in Sri Lanka. Launched on 11 October 2005, it is one of the most popular television networks in the country. Its main transmission tower is on the Kikil ...

’s Award show. His musical style ranges from

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

, acoustic guitar, piano, and pop. Dilan spent 10 years as a rapper under his former pseudonym, DeLon, producing 4 albums and 2

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

s. He is known by his fans as the "King of Ceylon" — "Ceylon" representing Sri Lanka – and has collaborated with American songwriter Jacob Luttrell, singer

, and other prominent producers in Sri Lanka. Dilan retired from his rapping career, and simultaneously dropped his DeLon pseudonym, in 2018. Adopting Dilan Jay to help represent his new musical direction, Dilan released his debut singer-songwriter album 3.14 in 2018 and Songs About Love and Other Stuff in 2019. In 2022 Dilan released 4 new singles in the Pop/R&B genre.

Film career

Dilan began his acting career in 2010 by starring in Sri Lankan film, ''Looking Back on the Lion'' (2010) A.K.A

Sinhawalokanaya ''Sinhawalokanaya'' (සිංහාවලෝකනය - Lion's Pride) is a 2011 Sinhala sports drama film written and directed by Suneth Malinga Lokuhewa. The film features Dilan Jay and Raini Charuka Goonatillake in the leading roles while ...

, which is recognized as a national heritage and the first Sri Lankan cricket film. Dilan's first American film debut is ''Hollow Point'' (2019), an action film directed by Daniel Zirilli, which won 4 film festival awards, and was picked up by Vertical Entertainment.

Delon discography

*'' The Connection'' (2005) *''

Unstoppable Unstoppable may refer to: Film and television * Unstoppable (2004 film), ''Unstoppable'' (2004 film), an American film directed by David Carson * ''Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis'', a 2005 America ...

'' (2008) *''S.O.N (Something Out of Nothing)'' (2011) * ''Awake'' (2011)

Dilan Jay Discography

*''Kick Back'' (2019) *''Favorite Song'' (2019) *''Ophelia'' (2020) *''Better Days'' (2020) *''Pineapple Life'' (2020) *''I Believe in You'' (2020) *''Echo of My Soul'' (2020) *''Love Will Bring You back'' (2020) *''Oh Cherie'' (2020) *''My Road'' (2020) *''Be Your Man Tonight'' (2022) *''All My Love'' (2022) *''Cool'' (2022) *''Glad I Came Out Tonight'' (2022) *''January'' (2022) *''Where Do We Go'' (2022)

References

External links

Dilan's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dilan Jay Living people Record producers from California Hip hop record producers American rappers of Asian descent Sri Lankan emigrants to the United States Sinhalese musicians 1980 births