Name	Anggun
Height	5' 4"
Naionality	Indonesian
Date of Birth	29 April 1974
Place of Birth	Jakarta, Indonesia
Famous for

She was born on April 29, 1974 in Jakarta and her name of Anggun means "a grace created in a dream". She was raised in the town of Yogjakarta famously known as the capital of the archipelago, the land of mystique. She is the daughter of her Javanese mum and Darto Sargo, a singer, typesetter and an active producer in show business in Indonesia. Her induction into the world of music began early in her life. As a baby, she was rocked to sleep listening to her mother crooning traditional folk songs. Her family influenced her to start at a young age with her father taking charge of his daughter's career. Her influences were artistes like The Police, Bon Jovi and Guns 'N Roses and she was already performing in public when she was 7. Her first album, a children's album, was recorded when she was only 9 years old. At 12 years of age, she met producer Ian Antono, who produced her rock and roll album 'Dunia Aku Punya', and it was the beginning of the road to success for her. Together they produced six chart-topping and award-winning albums which, in the years from 1986-1993, established Anggun as a sensational rock singer. At 17, her third album won her Indonesia's 'Most Popular Artist Award 1990-91'. By the time she was 19, Anggun had established her own record company. Her fifth album in 1993 was a huge hit, remaining on the No. 1 spot on the Indonesian charts for 4 weeks. In Borneo, she met a young French engineer, Michel Georgea. They later decided to marry in spite of the reservations of her family. Still, she yearned for more from life. The young woman decided to leave Indonesia to try her luck in Europe. In 1994, the couple settled in London. But finally they moved to live in Paris the following year.

In France, Anggun was an unknown factor. Friends gave her an address for songwriter/producer Erick Benzi (Céline Dion, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Johnny Hallyday) and Anggun simply knocked on his door one day and introduced herself. Benzi was really impressed by her and it was another dream partnership for Anggun. Together they worked to produce another successful album, 'Snow On The Sahara', which has been described as a blend of traditional Indonesian and contemporary Euro-American music. It is an immense success throughout the world. Issued in 33 countries in all, it reached the figure of a million sales in Indonesia and 100,000 in Malaysia. In the USA, she was honoured by Rolling Stone magazine, Billboard and appeared on TV shows such as the Rosie O'Donnell Show. In 1999, the song "Snow on the Sahara" was used by Swiss watches Swatch for its international promotion campaign.

In autumn 2000, she released the second French album, "Contrary Desires", produced by Erick Benzi. Anggun was the author of all the English texts. The CD came out in 15 countries in September, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. To coincide with this, Anggun gave her first concerts in France at the beginning of 2001 and also promotional concert tour across Asia. Since 1997, Anggun has become the best-selling Asian artist outside Asia ever and has become an international star in French and English speaking Europe, Italy, Spain, Eastern Asia, Japan, and many more territories.

In 1998, her single 'La Neige au Sahara' (Snow On The Sahara) became the most played single of the year on French radio, while the year after, she was nominated for Best Breakthrough Artist at the French Music Awards. Her first single 'Snow On The Sahara' became an instant #1 hit in Spain, Italy and Eastern Asia, while being charted Top 5 in the UK Club Charts. Her debut album even reached the Top 20 Billboard's Heat Seekers Charts in the United States! In recent years Anggun has completed an impressive international promotion schedule (World Music Awards, MTV-Awards, Top of the Pops, Silver Screen Awards, Women Inspire Awards, etc.) visiting numerous countries all over the world, and even meeting the Pope in Vatican City for a special concert with Dionne Warwick. Her first album sold Double-Gold in France, Double-Platinum in Italy, Gold in Singapore, Gold in Switzerland, Platinum in Malaysia, Triple-Platinum in Indonesia, while selling close to 200,000 copies in the United States!

Her second album 'Chrysalis' became Gold in Italy in one week and reached multi-Gold and multi-Platinum in numerous countries across Asia. 'Still Reminds Me' was a Top 5 single in the Music&Media European Borders Breaker Charts. She received in 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 a few years only, Anggun has reached what no other Asian artist has ever achieved worldwide. After her divorce, she married a Canadian, resided in Montreal and travelled back and forth to Paris and also other places to launch her new music career after she left Sony Music. She is currently signed to Heben Music, a French label under Sony BMG's wing. Her new album will be released this coming fall. First single "Être Une Femme", will be followed by an English album entitled 'Luminescence'.