Sherina Munaf

Sinna Sherina Munaf was born on 11 June 1990,[5] the second child of Triawan Munaf and Luki Ariani. As a child, she enjoyed painting and singing. Her parents arranged for her to have singing lessons from Elfa Secioria.[6][7] In 1997, she won a karaoke contest in Jakarta, followed by victory in a second singing contest in 1998.

In 1999, Sherina made her debut album Andai Aku Besar Nanti (When I Grow Up). The album went Platinum, selling over 250,000 copies and won two Indonesian Music Awards for Best Child Song and Best Children's Album.[8]

In 2000, Sherina's father, Triawan Munaf, collaborated with Mira Lesmana to produce the movie Petualangan Sherina (Sherina's Adventure), which gained wide theatrical release in Indonesia.[8] The soundtrack of Sherina's Adventure also gave the youngster another hit album. According to Ceepee Productions record company, it went Platinum by the end of August, with sales of more than 200,000 copies and revenues of $387,000.[9]

The album Petualangan Sherina won Indonesian Music Awards for Best Child Song and Best Children's Album plus Best Child Singer. Sherina also won Most Favorite Child Artist from Bobo (in Indonesian) twice in a row (1999 and 2000). In 2000, Asia Pacific Film Festival gave her a Special Jury Award as the Talented Child Actress. Despite her talents on the big screen, Sherina prefered to be known as 'just a singer'.[10]

An article in Asiaweek magazine described her as Asian News Maker of the year 2000.[11] She was interviewed by BBC London, which gained the attention of Westlife, who would duet with her on "I Have a Dream" for the Asian market. Gumilang Ramadhan (general manager of Sony BMG Indonesia) said, "part of the profit from the sales will be given to Indonesian children through an international charity foundation".[12]

In 2001, Sherina was interviewed by Hong Kong TV network Star TV on its "Focus Asia" program, in which she was named a Princess of Pop by Adrian Brown.[13] She appeared in numerous TV commercials and was sent by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) to Japan for an orangutan awareness campaign: Borneo Orangutan Survival.[14][15] Sherina was nominated as the Most Preferred Kid Actress and TV Talent based on National Kid Market Survey by Frontier Marketing and Research Consultant. At the end of 2001, Sherina was named the Most Shining Star Child by RCTI.[8]

In June 2001, Sherina sang "Simfoni Raya", written by Guruh Sukarnoputra for his album Bakti dan Persembahanku, released to celebrate the centenary anniversary of the birth of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.

In 2002, Sherina released her third album, titled "My Life". This album showed Sherina shifting from childhood songs toward teenage themes. The album's singles are "My Life", "Click Clock", and "Aku Beranjak Dewasa". It also features a song written by Sherina, "Kisah Sang Lebah" (Bee Story).[16]

Before achieving success as a child singer, Sherina's nascent acting skills had attracted the attention of the Miles Production film company, which thought she would fit nicely into a musical they were planning, called Vera and Elmo's Adventure, to be directed by Riri Riza. Producer Mira Lesmana recalled: "We set out to make a film for Indonesian families. They don't want serious, heavy stuff. The important thing was to produce something that was entertaining and would make families feel good about the Indonesian cinema again."[17] Shooting began in November 1999, with Sherina as the young lead.[18]

As the storyline was being finalized, Andai Aku Besar Nanti was released, catapulting Sherina to an established name. She was now bigger than the movie, which was re-titled Sherina's Adventure. It tells the story of a musically gifted girl, very much like Sherina, who moves with her family from Jakarta to Bandung. When a classmate is kidnapped in a business dispute, the diminutive heroine sets out to free him. The simplicity of the story and its old-fashioned family entertainment made it a popular film during the period of Indonesia's transition from an authoritarian regime to democracy.[19]

Released in June 2000, Sherina's Adventure sold 1.4 million tickets in six months and earned an estimated $723,000 from a budget of $241,000.[20][9]