Chrisye, The Legendary Indonesian Pop Singer

Chrisye, The Legendary Indonesian Pop Singer

Chrismansyah Rahadi (born with name Christian Rahardi) was born on September 16, 1949 in Jakarta. He was a singer and songs writer from Indonesia. Born in Jakarta from Chinese-Indonesian family, he became interested in music when he was young. As he was still in senior high school, he played bass in a band which was formed by him and his brother, Joris. In the end of 1960s, he became a member of Sabda Nada band, which changed into Gipsy in the following day. In 1973, after taking furlough for a long time, he joined the band in New York to play music. After going back to Indonesia for a short time, he went back there with another band, that was The Pro’s. Going back here in 1976, he worked with Gipsy and Guruh Soekarno Putra to record an album, Guruh Gipsy. After the success of Guruh Gipsy in 1977, he released his two best works, that were ‘Lilin-Lilin Kecil’ of James F. Sundah and an album Badai Pasti Berlalu. These made him was recruited by Musica Studios, in which in that company, he released his first solo album, Sabda Alam, in 1978. During his career which was more than 25 years, he made the other 18 solo albums and acted in a film ‘Seindah Rembulan’ in 1981.

Because of his smooth vocal and ungainly style, he was considered as one of legendary Indonesian singers. Five albums including his work were loaded in a list of the Best 150 Indonesian Albums by a music magazine ‘Rolling Stone Indonesia’. His five songs were loaded in a list of the best songs by the same magazine in 2009. Some of his albums were silver certificated. He got two Lifetime Achievement award, one was from BASF Award in 1993 and the other was from SCTV in 2007. In 2011, Rolling Stone Indonesia noted him as the third best Indonesian musician all the time.

He got many awards during his career. In 1979, he was chosen as Penyanyi Pria I Kesayangan Angket Siaran ABRI. Albums Sabda Alam and Aku Cinta Dia were given gold certificates, and Hip-Hip Hura, Resesi, Metropolitan, and Sendiri were silver certificated. He received three BASF awards, which was held by compact cassette BASF maker until in the middle of 1990s, for the best selling album; the first was received in 1984, Sendiri, then the second, Jumpa Pertama in 1988, and the last, Pergilah Kasih in 1989. He also got BASF Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994 for his contribution to the music world in Indonesia; in the same year, he got award as Penyanyi Rekaman Terbaik. In 1997, he got Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) award for Penyanyi Pop Pria Terbaik. In the next year, album Kala Cinta Menggoda won nine times in AMI, including Album Terbaik; he himself got awards as Penyanyi Pop Pria Terbaik and Perancang Grafis Terbaik (with Gauri). In 2007, after he had passed away, he got SCTV Lifetime Achievement Award for the first time, which was accepted by his daughter, Risty.

He passed away in his residence in Jakarta on March 30, 2007 after contracting lungs cancer for years. He left his wife, Gusti Firoza Damayanti Noor and his four children.

Written by Stefanus Reinald S.

Source : https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrisye