Jayaratne studied at prestigious St.Anthony's College, Kandy and Maliyadeva College in Kurunegala. He was drawn into singing by the head of the Folk and Research unit at the Broadcasting Corporation C.J.S. Kulathilaka who asked him to vocalise several Sinhala folk songs that included "Gana Thel Sadun" to be broadcast over the radio. He recorded his first song in 1970.

 

Jayaratne debuted as a playback singer with "Lahiru Dahasak" written by Sunil Ariyarathne and composed by Premasiri Khemadasa. In 1978 he released his first cassette Tharanga Volume - 01. At present, he has given his golden voice to 79 films. Among these films, Bambaru Awith of Dharmasena Pathiraja and Hansa Vilak of Dharmasiri Bandaranayake are considered as the best ever films in Sri Lankan history.

 

In 1980 Jayaratne dueted with Sunila Abeysekera on "Hemin Sare Piya Vida" for the movie Hansa Vilak. The song was written by Dharmasena Pathiraja with music by Premasiri Khemadasa and became a popular song in Sri Lanka. His duets with Neela Wickramasinghe also became hugely popular hits. Also he has composed music for some songs but he achieved fame as a talented vocalist.

 

Jayaratne is married to Malini Jayaratne and has two children. His son Isuru Jayarathne is also a singer.