Anggun

Anggun was born in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, on 29th April 1974. Her full name is Anggun Cipta Sasmi, in Bali it means "A grace born out of a dream".Her father, Darto Singo, was a famous singer and producer in Indonesia and Anggun decided to follow in her father's footsteps.At the tender age of 7 years she recorded her first album with children's song. At 12, after becoming interested in rock music, she recorded her second heavily rock influenced album, "Dunia Aku Punya", that in the indonesian language mean "World of mine". This album became very popular and she became a megastar in East Asia.Following the success of "Dunia Aku Punya", Anggun returned to the studio to record new albums ("Tua Tua Keladi in 1990, "Anak Putih Abu Abu" in 1991, "Noc Turno" in 1992 e "Anggun C.Sasmi...Lah!" in the 1993).The young rock diva was also busy outside the studio, performing a number of extensive tours throughout Asia.It was while on tour in Borneo that Anggun met her future husband Michel Georgea (a young French engineer on one of her tours). Her parents did not approve of her marriage at first, but eventually relented. In the 1994 the young singer then decided to leave Indonesia and try her luck in Europe."You wonder what's next -- and you just don't know.

I dreamed of an international career, but the American and English record companies weren't going to come to Indonesia looking for a new talent, when there is so much available in their own countries. So, I had to bring my talent to the West."So the young couple moved to London, but the following year they changed their plans and moved into an appartment in Paris. She was a complete unknown on the Paris music scene. Not for long however! Anggun soon met up with the French musician and producer Erick Benzi. Impressed by the young Indonesian singer's talent, Benzi immediately offered to write an album with her and eventually managed to persuade her to move away from her original rock influences and experiment with a more sensual, romantic sound. Anggun's smooth new style would prove an immediate success in France.

Her new album "Au nom de la lune", released in 1997, featured a mix of tracks recorded in English, French and even two songs in Indonesian. But it was the phenomenal success of Anggun's single "La neige au sahara" (which rocketed to the top of the European charts and became one of the hits of Summer '97 in France) that would really establish the Indonesian star on the French music scene.Following the chart success of "La neige au sahara", Anggun's album would really take off - indeed, "Au nom de la lune" would soon go on to sell more than 150,000 copies in France and Belgium. The album "Au nom de la lune" not only rocketed Anggun to fame in France, it would also prove to be a major hit in the singer's homeland. Released under the title "Anggun", the album has gone on to sell well over 100,000 copies in Indonesia. The young diva's new repertoire of soft, romantic ballads certainly looks set to prove as popular with her Indonesian fans as her previous rock hits!In 1998, Anggun toured with Sarah McLachlan and Erykah Badu among others, on the Lilith Fair tour. At the end of 2000 Anggun received an invitation from the Vatican, asking her to appear at a Christmas concert alongside a host of international stars including Bryan Adams.Her second album 'Chrysalis' became Gold in Italy in one week and reached multi-Gold and multi-Platinum in numerous countries accross Asia. 'Still Reminds Me' was a Top 5 single in the Music&Media European Borders Breaker Charts. She received on the same year the 'Cosmopolitan Asia Woman Award' and later on, the 'Women Inspire Award' in recognition of her international stardom.
In January 2003, she met France's Culture Minister and received at Midem, the international exhibition of the music industry, a prestigious Diamond Award for sales outside France reaching more than 1.2m copies, making her one of the best selling French music export success stories ever, among artists like Daft Punk, Air, Manu Chao, etc.

Also very recently, she participated in two major Scandinavian movies soundtracks 'Anja & Viktor' and 'Open Hearts'. For 'Open Hearts' she received a nomination for 'Best Song' at the 2003 Danish Film Awards. Her recent duet with Italian rockstar Piero Pelu, entitled 'Amore Imaginato' reached #1 in the National Italian Airplay Charts... for over two months ! Anggun was also part of the charity driven project 'Gaia', along with international superstars such as Midnight Oil, Zucchero, Cesare Evoria…This year she was awarded by France's Culture Minister the prestigious distinction of “Chevalier des Arts et Lettres” for her worldwide achievements and her support to the French culture. She has also accepted the role of Spokeperson for the UN ‘Year of Microcredit’ to create awareness and help the needy all over the world.In the 2005 she released her new last album "Luminescence. Anggun's first single from the French album is "Être Une Femme" and the second is "Cesse la Pluie" that was also used as sound track of the film "Transporter II". Anggun will be releasing a repackaged version of "Luminescence" with 6 new tracks on 21st August 2006. Three of the tracks is completely new and the rest are the remixes. The confirmed track to be the next single of this album is one of the new tracks called "Juste Avant Toi". The Other new tracks are "Quelque'Qun" and the third song is unconfirmed yet.
Source :

www.anggunworld.com