Sri Lankan born Danish singing sensation Anne Rani was part of the famous Danish girl band Juice in the 90s. Our Deputy Editor Tina Edward Gunawardhana visited Anne in Copenhagen to discover a true singing sensation that revolutionised the Danish music industry.
The first thing I noticed about Anne Rani was her dazzling megawatt smile which lit up the hotel lobby I was meeting her at, in her hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark. An integral member of the trio that formed Juice, one of Denmark’s major music influences in the 90s, Anne’s haunting voice helped the band reach unprecedented success as an RnB group. At the height of her success Anne was being driven from gig to gig with bodyguards and an entourage. Her band was signed to EMI/Chrysalis which was a noteworthy music company that had many great legends on their books. Anne has toured extensively in Europe and Asia and performed on some of the world’s biggest stages such as Wembley Arena in UK, Ahoy in Rotterdam and the Globe in Sweden to audiences of over 30,000 people.
Like her voice, Anne’s story is haunting. She was born in Sri Lanka and placed in an orphanage in Panadura. She was only 8 months old when a Danish couple visiting Sri Lanka, adopted her and took her back to Denmark, almost four decades ago. Billed as probably one of the finest music exports from Denmark, Anne had the world at her feet in her heyday. Her achievements include collaborating with Danish Rapper MC Clemens and winning the Danish National Radio award for best Hip Hop song of the year and performing on a children’s Christmas movie soundtrack called “Pyrus” that went Platinum.
Can you tell us about your early days?
I was 8 months old when I was brought to Denmark. I was fortunate to be adopted by a very good family. My father worked as a dentist and my mother worked with children. I have a younger brother who is also adopted but we are not blood related. He was adopted from Colombo and I was adopted from a children’s home in Panadura. In essence I don’t know my biological parents and I don’t even know my true date of birth. My adoption was done through an organisation and I was not selected by my parents.
Have you ever made an attempt to look for your birth mother?
I have never tried to look for my birth mother because I was told that there were no records in the home that I was in. Personally, I was okay with it as I had a very loving, secure family, but I know many adopted children have a hard time with it and find it very difficult not knowing their roots. I have never had a desire to find my birth parents. I also thought maybe I am someone’s secret or in a worse case scenario I could be result of a rape. So I thought maybe it is better that I don’t find out in case it opens up a can of worms and makes someone’s life even worse.
Did this have an adverse effect on you growing up?
As a teenager especially, I wanted to be like every other Danish girl with blonde hair, blue eyes and long legs. Of course I had none of those physical attributes. It was later in life that I really embraced my roots and was proud of my skin colour and proud to be from Sri Lanka. It would have been lovely to have a photo of my biological parents because for most children they have their parents who they can mirror themselves with. They can say my nose is like my father’s or my eyes are like my mother’s. But I did not have that.
Photography: Thomas Abrigo
