Anggun
Anggun Cipta Sasmi (Indonesian pronunciation: [aŋˈɡun ˈtʃipta ˈsasmi]; born 29 April 1974) is an Indonesian-French singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of seven and recorded a children's album two years later. She rose to fame in 1989 as a teenage rock star and by 1993 she had released five Indonesian-language studio albums. Rolling Stone listed her single "Mimpi" as one of the 150 Greatest Indonesian Songs of All Time.
Anggun
Anggun C. Sasmi
- Singer
- songwriter
- producer
- actress
- television personality
1983–present
1
- Vocals
- piano
- April Earth
- Universal
- Sony
- TF1 Musique
- Warner
Anggun left Indonesia for England in 1994 to pursue an international career. She later moved to France and recorded her first international album, Snow on the Sahara (1997). It was released in 33 countries by Sony Music and sold more than one million copies worldwide. Since then, Anggun has released another six studio albums—in English and French—and a soundtrack album to the Danish film Open Hearts (2002). Her singles "Snow on the Sahara", "What We Remember", "The Good Is Back", and "Perfect World" entered the Billboard charts in the United States while "In Your Mind", "Saviour" and "I'll Be Alright" charted on the Billboard European Hot 100 Singles. She represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, with the song "Echo (You and I)".
Anggun also ventured into television, becoming the judge for the Indonesian versions of The X Factor (2013), Got Talent (2014), and The Voice (2018); the pancontinental Asia's Got Talent (2015–2019); the French version of Masked Singer (2019–2022); and the Belgian version of StarMaker (2023). She also performed as the leading actress in musical theater show Al Capone (2023) and played supporting roles in the film Coup de foudre à Bangkok (2020) and TV series Profession Comédien (2021). Aside from her career in entertainment, Anggun has been appointed as the global ambassador of the United Nations twice, first for the International Year of Microcredit in 2005 and then for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2009.
Anggun is one of the best-selling Asian artists outside Asia, with her releases being certified gold and platinum in some European countries. She is the first Indonesian artist to have success in European and American record charts. She has received a number of accolades for her achievements, including the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the Government of France, the World Music Award for World's Best-Selling Indonesian Artist, and the Asian Television Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asian Television Performing Arts. She also became the first woman from Indonesia to be immortalized in wax by Madame Tussauds.
Life and career[edit]
1974–1993: Early life and career in Indonesia[edit]
Anggun was born in Jakarta on 29 April 1974. She is the second child and first daughter of Darto Singo, a Javanese writer, and Dien Herdina, a housewife from the Yogyakarta royal family.[1][2] Her full name means "grace born of a dream". Despite being a Muslim, Anggun was sent to a Catholic school to receive a better elementary education.[3][4] At the age of seven, Anggun began receiving highly disciplined instruction in singing from her father.[5] She trained daily, learning various vocal techniques. To help further develop her career, her mother began serving as her manager, accepting singing offers and handling business concerns.[6] At the age of nine, Anggun learned to write her own songs and recorded her first ever studio album, Kepada Alam dan Penciptanya (1983), which featured children's music.[7][8]
Transitioning into adolescence, Anggun was influenced by Western rock music artists.[3] In 1986, she released her second studio album and her first post-childhood recording titled Dunia Aku Punya. Although it was produced by Ian Antono, a famous Indonesian rock musician, the album was not a commercial success.[9] Anggun rose to fame three years later, after the release of the single "Mimpi"; the song was later ranked by the Rolling Stone Indonesia magazine as one of the 150 Greatest Indonesian Songs of All Time.[10] Anggun's success continued in the early 1990s with a string of hit singles such as "Tua Tua Keladi", "Laba Laba", and "Takut". Anggun also recorded the studio albums Anak Putih Abu Abu (1991) and Nocturno (1992).[2] The former earned her the Most Popular Indonesian Artist 1990–1991 award.[11]
In 1992, Anggun began a relationship with Michel de Gea, a French engineer, whom she had met the year before in Kalimantan while touring.[12] The couple married, despite a rumoured objection by Anggun's family, reportedly because they felt Anggun was too young.[12] De Gea later became Anggun's manager. The following year, Anggun became the youngest Indonesian singer to found her own record company, Bali Cipta Records, and took complete creative control over her work.[3] She produced her fifth and final Indonesian studio album, Anggun C. Sasmi... Lah!!! (1993), which yielded the hit song "Kembalilah Kasih (Kita Harus Bicara)".[9] By age nineteen, Anggun had sold over four million albums in Indonesia.[3][11] She began to feel dissatisfied with her success in her country and began considering an international music career. Anggun later recalled: "[By the time] I was 20, I'd made five albums. I'd built my own record company. I'd produced my last album and produced some Indonesian acts as well. And I said to myself: 'I'm tired! I cannot achieve more than I already have. There's no challenge anymore'."[13]
1994–1999: International breakthrough with Snow on the Sahara[edit]
In 1994, Anggun released Yang Hilang, a greatest hits album of her Indonesian popular songs. She later sold her record company to fund her move to Europe, and moved to London for about a year.[13][14] In a 2006 interview with Trax magazine, Anggun admitted to experiencing "culture shock" and having some serious financial problems while trying to start her new life in Europe, saying "I thought the money that I got by selling my record company was enough [to sustain life in London], but I began to lose money, little by little. I had to spend so much on taking cabs and eating! So I ended up taking buses everywhere and going to clubs to introduce myself as a singer." She also admitted that she "had to convert from being a shy, introverted, 'real' Javanese woman to being an unabashed, fearless, 'fake' Javanese woman."[15]
Current members
Former members
In popular culture[edit]
Anggun became the first Indonesian woman to be immortalized in wax by Madame Tussauds in 2016. Located in its Bangkok museum, Anggun's statue joined that of Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia.[397] As of 2022, a total of 19 Anggun records have been added by the Indonesian Music Museum for preservation, the seventh most total among musicians from Jakarta.[398]
A cocktail named after "Anggun" is served in Bar 228, Hôtel Meurice de Calais, Paris.[399] It is made of Bacardi rum, mango coulis, coconut milk, and pineapple juice.[400]
Film
Television
Musical Theatre
Radio Programme
Online Series
Soundtrack