Siti Nurhaliza

Throughout her career, Siti has received an unprecedented number of music awards in Malaysia and its neighbouring countries:^[6] 42 Anugerah Industri Muzik, 31 Anugerah Bintang Popular, 28 Anugerah Planet Muzik, 22 Anugerah Juara Lagu, four MTV Asia Awards, three World Music Awards, two Anugerah Musik Indonesia (Indonesian Music Awards), and five records in the Malaysia Book of Records. Having 20 solo studio albums, 1 Special album, 2 duet albums, she is one of the most popular artists in the Malay Archipelago and Nusantara region – she has been voted for Regional Most Popular Artiste ten times in a row beating other fellow artists from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore in the Anugerah Planet Muzik since 2001.^[7] Siti is currently listed as one of Malaysia's richest,^[8] most-influential,^[9] most award-winning, and most single-produced artist.^[10] She is also one of Malaysia's best selling artists with her album sales having contributed to 10 percent of Malaysia's total album sales for 2001.^[11] To date, she has sold more than 6 million in record sales.


At international stage, Siti has won the Gold Award in Asia New Singer Competition at Shanghai Asia Music Festival in 1999,^[9] two awards from 'South Pacific International Song and Singing Competition 1999' held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia,^[9][12] and the Grand Prix Champion title in Voice of Asia in 2002 held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.^[13][14] In 2020, after receiving a record breaking of votes, she won the public choice for Adelaide Festival Centre's Walk of Fame 2019.^[15]


Besides musical awards, she has various other achievements. In 1998, Siti was chosen to perform during the closing ceremony of 1998 Commonwealth Games in front of Queen Elizabeth II and her consort, Prince Philip, among other dignitaries and officials from 70 countries including those from the Commonwealth of Nations.^[16] In 2005, Siti became the first Southeast Asian singer, and third Asian singer to perform a solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, while being backed by the London Symphony Orchestra.^[17] She was listed second by MTV Asia in Asia's Best Musical Artiste^[18] and Channel V's Biggest Asian Artiste in 2005.^[18] Later in 2008, she was named as one of Asia's Idol by Asia News Network.^[19] She also has been listed as one of The Muslim 500 - The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims from year 2015 to 2022.^[20] Her success in the Asian region has gained her honorific titles including the "Voice of Asia"^[21] and "Asia's Celine Dion".^[22]

Early life[edit]

Siti Nurhaliza was born on 11 January 1979, in Berek Polis (police barrack) Kampung Awah in Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia where she is the fourth child in a family of seven siblings to Tarudin Ismail, a police officer and Siti Salmah Bachik, a housewife.^[23][24] She comes from a musically inclined family; her brother, Saiful Bahri Tarudin, and her sisters, Siti Norsaida and Siti Nursairah are also singers.^[25] Her grandfather was a famous violinist, and her mother used to be a local traditional singer.^[23]


During her childhood, she was involved in various school activities including sports and co-curricular activities.^[26] She attended her pre-school at Tabika Perkep, Balai Polis Kampung Awah, Temerloh where she first showcased her early singing talent at the age of six when she sang "Sirih Pinang",^[27] a Malay traditional song, at her kindergarten's certificate-receiving event.^[23] She later attended primary school at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Clifford and followed up her secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford, Kuala Lipis, Pahang.^[26] In 1991, when she was 12 years old, she won one of her earliest singing competitions, with the song "Bahtera Merdeka" at the Merdeka Day Singing Contest, a local patriotic song competition.^[28][29] During her schooling years, she was active in sports, especially in netball^[30] and this was evident when she participated in two different sports events – netball and 5x80 meter relay during the Fiesta Media Idola 2006 in Kuantan.^[31] She was also chosen as one of the torch bearers to light the games of the Fiesta, marking its opening alongside Malaysian actress, Fasha Sandha.^[31]


Coming from a poor family,^[29][32] at the age of nine,^[33] Siti had to wake up at 4:00 am to help her mother make and sell various homemade kuih in her neighbourhood, where sometimes, she also had to carry a makeshift table down three flights of stairs to the main road to set up a small stall.^[34] She commented that all the hardships have not only helped her to be more frugal when spending, but also to be more confident when communicating with the public.^[33] She also jokingly said that the whole experience has helped to improve her vocal skills as she has to shout to call for customers.^[35] Apart from participating in singing competitions, she also used to follow her uncle, Abdul Rahim Bachik, to invitational shows like wedding ceremonies and dinner parties, which have helped to expose her to performing live.^[36]


Although she had good SPM results, Siti Nurhaliza declined to pursue her tertiary education to focus solely on her music career. In a 2012 interview, Siti said that she didn't regret not obtaining a university degree as none of her family pursued higher education due to financial difficulties.