Tribute to The Idol

‘Sinaran’, ‘Antara Anyir dan Jakarta’, ‘Warna’, ‘Lagenda’, ‘Ku Mohon’, and ‘Kerinduan’are among evergreen songs that you might came across and used listened when you were young or you still listen to. Do you ever know who the owner of the voice is? I bet you already know who she is.

2010 will be a remarkable and wonderful year for a soul named Shaheila binti Abdul Majid or well-known as Datuk Sheila Majid because year of 2010 bring special meaning to herself as it is her silver jubilee or 25 years of her shining career in Malaysia’s music industry. Just before Datuk Siti Nurhaliza’s uprising on music industry and took Malaysia by storm, Datuk Shiela Majid was the one who took it from the rest of other established singers, from chart-topping songs to her widespread fame and massive fans not just in Malaysia but in Indonesia as well.

Sheila Majid is also known as the Queen Jazz and Soul of Malaysia, because of her uniqueness of voice and her own improvise. Her uniqueness was spotted by a music director, Roslan Aziz who was then gave Sheila Majid a contract in 1982 that changes her life as a newborn singer. Nevertheless, it took her 3 years to accomplish her first album called Dimensi Baru in 1985 which subsequently went explosive. In subsequent year after the release of Emosi, she won Indonesian BASF Award for Best Female R&B Artist which was never won by a non-Indonesian in 1987. Her success in Indonesia brought Sheila Majid to her nationwide tour in 1988.

In 1989, Sheila performed in Tokyo Music Festival and in the same year, she was again been invited to perform in Japan. At the same year, she released her multi-platinum selling album Warna for her beloved fans. Her achievement did not end up just yet as she conquered the News Straits Times reader polls for four consecutive years in 1987 to 1990. Fans were dying to watch Sheila Majid singing and performing, made Sheila Majid as a phenomenon of the music industry in the late 80’s.

In 1990, she embarked a project of her forth album Legenda which featured her own interpretation of several late P. Ramlee’s classics. The project was a huge success and the album became her best selling album along with her two years nationwide tour and as the climax, she performed in a staggering concert held in Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur which drew almost 10,000 fans throughout the nation. She was awarded as Ahli Mangku Negara (AMN) , a federal honour by the Majesty of Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Her career not just move around her nation but also out of nation border, in March 1996, Sheila Majid performed her sold-out concert at London’s West End Royalty Theatre as her gratitude to her fans in overseas and she became the second Malaysian singer to stage a solo show in London after the late Sudirman Hj. Arshad. In July 2000, Shiela Majid was been honoured to be the first artist to performed at Petronas Philharmonic Hall, Kuala Lumpur in conjunction to commemorate Sheila Majid’s fifteenth anniversary in music industry. Her seventh album, Cinta Kita saw a collaborating with some Indonesian’s musicians and her debut single, “Kerinduan” reached number one in Indonesia.

Indeed, Sheila Majid has contributed so much to local music industry. Her stunning achievement and gifted talent bring new hopes for the young people to showcase their talent. Her uniqueness and passion to music made people want her to be their idol. In short, if there is a will, there must be a way. Therefore, talent should be always shown with effort, if not you will not succeed as Datuk Sheila Majid does.