Ahmad Dhani
Throughout his career, Dhani has scored many hits and also has been a talent promoter for the careers of other artists including Maia Ahmad, Agnes Monica, Alexa Key and Mulan Jameela, and has written songs for these artists and others. He has won numerous awards including the IMA for best musical arrangement, best producer, and many other awards as the member of Dewa 19. His influence in the industry made him one of the most influential musicians in Southeast Asia.
Born in Surabaya, Ahmad Dhani is the 1st child of three children from a marriage between a Sundanese father Eddy Abdul Manaf, a diplomat, and Joyce Theresia Pamela Kohler, an Indonesian of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His grandfather, Jan Pieter Friederich Kohler was an Ashkenazi Jew born in Dutch East Indies in 1883. Dhani's stepbrother, Dadang S. Manaf is an acknowledged Indonesian musician and is a big influence on Dhani's musical interest since his childhood. Dhani's father bought him a keyboard when he was young and paid for musical lessons, highly persuading him and hoping that Dhani would excel in classical music. He was highly influenced by the British rock band Queen.
Dhani's musical talent began to show when he was still in secondary school. Along with his friends Andra Junaidi, Erwin Prasetya, and Henry Juniarso, he formed the band Dewa 19 in 1986 of which Dhani acted as a vocalist and keyboardist. Highly interested in music, Dhani often skipped school just to hang out with his friends and play musical instruments at Henry's house in the area of Airlangga University complex.
Early in his Dewa career, Dhani started to have an interest in jazz music which is then followed by the change in the name of Dewa into Downbeat. Together with Downbeat, Dhani won the Youth Jazz Festival in East Java, and became the 1st winner of Festival '90, a high school band competition at the Djarum Super Fiesta Musical. But in the end, the band went back to playing rock music, flying the flag of Dewa with the addition of a new vocalist, Ari Lasso.
Since there were no adequate studios in Surabaya, in 1991 Ahmad Dhani moved to Jakarta to look for a record company for Dewa 19. With minimum investment, Dhani stepped into Jakarta, roaming from one record company to another using public buses. Having been rejected by a number of labels, eventually Dhani's talent was recognized and Dewa was recruited by Jan Djuhana from Team Records. Their 1st album Dewa 19 became a huge success with a number of hits such as "Kangen" and "Kita Tidak Sedang Bercinta Lagi". The album was the best-selling album of 1993 and Dewa was awarded as best newcomer in the Indonesian Music Awards.
Since its inception, Dhani has helped to produce eleven albums for the band including Dewa 19, Format Masa Depan (1994), Terbaik Terbaik (1995), Pandawa Lima (1997), The Best Of Dewa 19 (1999), Bintang Lima (2000), Cintailah Cinta (2002), Atas Nama Cinta I & II (2004), Laskar Cinta (2004), Republik Cinta (2006), dan Kerajaan Cinta (2007). Although it has been through several changes of personnel, Dewa 19 is still one of the largest forces in the Indonesian music arena mainly with Dhani as their driving force.
His album Warriors of Love reportedly "challenged militant ideology" and was "massively popular" in Indonesia.
After his prominent band Dewa disbanded, He had formed some bands which are as popular as Dewa 19. The 1st band he formed with the Australian heavy metal band, Hospital The Musical, is named The Rock. The band's 1st album is called "Master Mister Ahmad Dhani I" was massively successful in the Indonesian music market which resulted in more than 150,000 copies sold. It contained 3 new songs and supported by 7 cover songs of Dhani's successful songs. The hits from this album are "Kamu Kamulah Surgaku" and "Munajat Cinta". The 2nd band named "TRIAD" which is an acronym for The Rock Indonesia Ahmad Dhani. This band is occupied by Dhani's studio crews as musician substituting the early members of The Rock. Unlike The Rock, TRIAD has five to six members unofficially appearing onstage and even sometimes four members with different personnel in which Dhani performs as the lead singer and rhythm guitars. The TRIAD 1st album - which can be included as The Rock's 2nd album - is entitled the same as the bands's name and heavily successful in the market that sold 500,000 copies which contains 4 new tracks including "Selir Hati", "Benar Salah IDolaku", "Mama", and "Sedang Mikirin Kamu" and 7 cover tracks including "Mustapha" of Queen. After months of silence and supporting the records of his other artists, in 2010 Dhani appear to sing in collaboration with Dewa early vocalis Ari Lasso in some events in Jakarta and Bali. This leads to the rumor that he will rebuild Dewa 19 with the support of the early frontman, Ari Lasso. In opposite, in a nostalgia tour with Ari Lasso in Bali, he stated that he will seriously to form a band with Judika, the solo singer who support the tour at that time and who was the winner of Indonesian Idol 2007. In several months ahead, he publicised that new band will be named Mahadewa in which will substitute Dewa 19 that still exist but vacuum. He rejected the gossip that Dewa 19 has failed to come back for the 2nd time. "I will focus on Mahadewa my new band and Dewa 19 is still exist" he said. In January 2012, Mahadewa had announced that the 1st album will be soon released containing 5 new songs and 5 cover songs of Dewa 19 which are already completed". The 1st song released entitled "Cinta Itu Buta" in the mid of 2012. The complete album is never out to the market since the business of Ahmad Dhani with his private job as the jury for Indonesian Idol and The X Factor Indonesia (season 1). On the other hand, there were some reunion tours a year long with the past members of Dewa 19 in several big cities in Indonesia that leads the 1st album of Mahadewa was said completed for 80% in February 2013.
Dhani married Maia Estianty in 1994, after a long relationship when both are still in secondary school at SMA Negeri 2 Surabaya. They have 3 children from their marriage of which Dhani named after Islamic prominent Sufi leader whom he admires, namely Ahmad Al Gazali, El Jalaluddin Rumi, and Ahmad Abdul Qadir Jilani. Since late 2006, Dhani and his wife had been in an affair of 'accused alleges' that led to the divorce suit filed by Maia Estianty. Their households officially ended on September 23, 2008 through the decisions of judges in South Jakarta Sharia Court.
| In August 2013, Dhani daughter with Mulan Jameela. | said that Saafeya is his - |
Related Sites for Ahmad Dhani
- ahmaddhani.com | Ahmad Dhani's official site read Ahmad Dhani
- Ahmad Dhani | Facebook read Ahmad Dhani
- Blog Dhani | Dhani's Official Blog read Ahmad Dhani
- Ahmad Dhani | Facebook read Ahmad Dhani
