Anggun Cipta Sasmi (born April 29, 1974, in Jakarta) is an Indonesian singer. Her name means "Grace born out of a dream" in Indonesian.
At a young age, Anggun Cipta Sasmi decided to follow in her father, Darto Singo's footsteps, and become an entertainer. During her early years, she was influenced by rock sounds of native Javanese artists and the rock & roll icon, Elvis Presley. She was educated in Catholic schools because her father wanted Anggun Cipta Sasmi to have a high quality education, although she is a Muslim. Anggun Cipta Sasmi began performing at age 7 and recorded her first album two years later. By the time Anggun was 17, she was a successful national rock star.
Anggun Cipta Sasmi began to feel unsatisfied with her success in Asia and, at 19, she left Indonesia in hopes of breaking through in the European music charts. With her first husband, she moved to London and then Paris, where she met music producer Erick Benzi, who had produced music for stars such as Celine Dion, and Johnny Hallyday, a popular French singer. Benzi was quite impressed by Anggun's talent and immediately offered to work with her on her new album. Benzi persuaded Anggun Cipta Sasmi to move away from her original rock influences and experiment with a more sensual and romantic sound. Anggun's smooth new style would prove an immediate success in France. Her first French album, Au Nom de la Lune (titled Anggun for Indonesia and Japanese market and Snow On The Sahara in other 13 countries including the US) not only skyrocketed Anggun to fame in France, the album was also a major hit in her native country, Indonesia. Her second album Desirs Contraires (Chrysalis in foreign and US markets) proved to be a worldwide hit as well.
In 1998, Anggun Cipta Sasmi toured in Lilith Fair with Sarah McLachlan and other female musicians. In 2000, Anggun Cipta Sasmi received an invitation from the Vatican asking her to perform at a Christmas concert where she sang her rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" for the Pope, John Paul II. In 2000, she was also granted French citizenship.
Her duet with an Italian rockstar, Piero Pelù, entitled L'amore Immaginato reached #1 in the National Italian Airplay Charts for over two months. Anggun was also part of the charity driven project Gaia.
Anggun Cipta Sasmi also performed a duet with Gildas Arzel in the song "C'est le debut", which sounds nearly identical to Donna Lewis's collaboration with Richard Marx in "At the Beginning".
Anggun Cipta Sasmi has been known for her artistic music videos. Many of her videos use special effects, creating beautiful, evocative imagery (most notably "A Rose in the Wind").
Besides Indonesian, her native language, Anggun is fluent in French and English. She currently splits her time between Montreal and Paris.
In 2005 a new album, titled Luminescence, was released. In a departure from her previous two studio albums, the English, French, and international versions had the same titles. The album were also re-released as special edition version.
Being an artist as well as a fashion trendsetter, Anggun worked closely with famous European couturiers. Among designers who have worked with her for the previous albums include Frenchman Azzedine Alaïa who exclusively designed her outfit for Au Nom de la Lune/Snow on Sahara; the Italian duo Dolce & Gabbana for Chrysalis/Désirs Contraires and Roberto Cavalli for Luminescence.
She is now busy promoting the re-release of her new album with releasing a fourth single, "Garde-Moi/A Crime" and will release a "Best-Of" album at the end of the year.
Through the years, she has a few hits singles across the Europe and the Asia. Among her hit songs include "Snow On The Sahara/La Neige Au Sahara", "A Rose In The Wind/La Rose De Vents", "Still Reminds Me/Derriere La Porte", "Chrysalis/Tu Mens", "In Your Mind/Entre Une Femme", "Saviour/Cesse La Pluie", and "I'll Be Alright/Juste Avant Toi"
