Siti Nurhaliza

Siti was born in a police barracks in Kampung Awah, Temerloh. She is the fourth of seven children of police officer Tarudin Ismail and Siti Salmah Bachik, a former traditional singer. Several of her siblings also sing. She learned traditional songs from her mother as a small child and sang "Sirih Pinang" in public at six. From the age of nine she helped her mother make and sell kuih before school. She went to school at Clifford in Kuala Lipis, where she was keen on netball. At 12 she won a patriotic singing contest with "Bahtera Merdeka". She also performed at weddings and functions with her uncle's band. She did well in her SPM exams but chose music over university.

After failing an Asia Bagus audition at 14, she won RTM's Bintang HMI competition in 1995 at 16. She signed with Suria Records, and her debut single "Jerat Percintaan" won the 1996 Anugerah Juara Lagu. Her self-titled debut album sold more than 800,000 copies in Malaysia, and the follow-up was also a hit in Indonesia. In 1998 she sang at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

Her 2004 concert at Bukit Jalil National Stadium drew about 70,000 people. In 2005 she became the first Southeast Asian singer to give a solo concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Her 2006 album Transkripsi won Best Album at the Anugerah Industri Muzik. That October the Sultan of Pahang made her a Dato'.

She has continued to tour and record, with concerts at Istana Budaya and Singapore's Esplanade and a 2019 tour of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Her 18th studio album, ManifestaSITI2020, came out in July 2020. She also runs the beauty brand Simplysiti. She married Datuk Seri Khalid in August 2006, and they have a daughter, born in 2018, and a son, born in 2021.