Maia Ahmad
| Maia Estianty | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Maia Estianty |
| Born |
27 January 1976 Surabaya, Indonesia |
| Genres | Pop rock, R&B, jazz, dance, classic |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress, song writer, dancer |
| Years active | 1999 – present |
| Labels | Sony Music Indonesia |
Maia Estianty (born 27 January 1976), known as Maia Ahmad during her marriage to Dewa 19 frontman Ahmad Dhani, is an Indonesian songwriter, music producer, singer, dancer and actress.
Estianty was born in Surabaya, East Java, and showed interest in music at an early age, winning a marching band competition while still in elementary school. She began training as a disc jockey while still in junior high school; it was around this time that she first met Dhani. After studying at the University of Indonesia, Estianty joined Dewa 19 as a backing vocalist. In 1999, she and Dhani came up with the idea for the musical duo Ratu. Estianty played the music, while other women – first Pinkan Mambo, then Mulan Jameela – sang. Ratu was highly successful. After the dissolution of the band in 2007 and a bitter divorce in September 2008, Estianty formed Duo Maia with Mey Chan. She is currently focusing on producing music with her label, Le Moesik.
Estianty was born in Surabaya, East Java, on 27 January 1976. She was the fifth of six children born to Harjono Sigit and his wife Kusthini. She is the great-granddaughter of Tjokroaminoto, a nationalist Muslim leader and National Hero, through her father's side.
As a child, Estianty often fought with her classmates; in an interview with the weekly entertainment magazine Tabloid Nova, she recalled that, while at Yohanes Gabriel Catholic Elementary School in Surabaya, she once hit a classmate with an object so hard that the classmate began to bleed profusely. She also took up music during this time, leading her marching band to win a national championship; she also took up the piano.
As a student at State Junior High School 1 in Surabaya, Estianty took up modelling; in 1990 she won the Yess Modelling Competition for Teenagers, which provoked a number of modelling offers. She also began working part-time at a radio station and learned how to be a disc jockey. At a birthday party while in junior high school, a friend introduced her to Ahmad Dhani; Estianty and Dhani began writing songs for the piano together. Having received good marks in elementary school and junior high school, while in senior high school she began dating, first with a classmate then with Dhani, and her scores dropped drastically.
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