Nurshahila binti Amir Amzah (born in 13 August 1990, professionally known as
Shila Amzah, is a Malaysian award winning singer-songwriter, composer, musician, dancer, actress, businesswoman
and record producer.
Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by a family of musicians,
Shila began making music when she was 9 years old and performed in
various musical venues in her hometown throughout her childhood. She
released her debut album,
Terima Kasih Guruku at the age of 10.
She started winning awards from then on, beginning with the Most Popular
Kids Artist at the Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian. From the age
of 4, Shila was already going to recording studios with her dad, a
singer named Amir Amzah or more popularly known as ND Lala. She
continued her singing career by breaking out to Shanghai, China and
eventually won the
Asian Wave(Season 1). As the winner of
Asian Wave (
season 1) held in Shanghai, China, she won 5 Million MYR and a 6-year recording contract with
Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group, the media company behind the competition. She became recognized as a solo singer after winning
Patah Seribu as Best Pop Song Award and Best Song Award at the
Anugerah Industri Muzik (19 edition). After she rose to fame winning the
Asian Wave and second runner-up of
I Am A Singer (Season 2)
, she started to be recognized as
Asia's Sweetheart and
Princess of Music.
Shila was the first runner up of Bintang Kecil RTM in 2000, first runner-up of One In A Million, champion of
Asia New Singer Competition in 2008 and first runner-up of
Anugerah Juara Lagu (29 Edition)
She has worked with big names from the Mandopop industry such as Eric
Moo where she was the opening act for his concert and is planning a duet
with Wang Leehom. She also won a special award, the
Kembara Award (International Breakthrough Award)
at the Anugerah Industri Muzik (20th Edition). Shila was listed as Top 5
Most Popular Female Artist in China after making an appearance at
I Am A Singer Season 2 .
Before the
Asian Wave, she performed a duet with
Miley Cyrus entitled
Best of Both World to promote Hannah Montana at Malaysia
.
Apart from singing, Shila loves to dance to Latin, Salsa, Rock and
K-Pop. She has been interested in dancing even before singing
professionally.
Shila's name has changed from the time she was known as Nurshahila/Shila
Tekno. She explained that when she was a child, she used "Nurshahila"
as her stage name at that time. In 2004, she changed her name to
Sha-Hila as her record company, EMI, wanted her name to be shorter.
Later on, she joined the One In A Million singing contest and needed to
make her name shorter. The organizer of OIAM2 truncated her name to just
Shila. After coming in as the first runner up, she was called "Shila
OIAM". She didn't like the name and so she added "Amzah" to her stage
name, as her father's name is Amir Amzah. In China, Shila's name is
Xilā.
Shila's fan base is not restricted to Malaysia, with a wide range of
fans from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, US, Kazakhstan and other
Southeastern Asian countries. She's currently planning her debut
appearance in
South Korea as her interest is in K-Pop. She also stated that she's a big fan of
K-Pop and
K-drama, and is a fan of South Korean
boyband EXO.
Shila revealed that she wants to produce at least one single in Korea
in the near future. She is still considering appearances in other
neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Australia. To Shila,
Skechers Sundown Festival would be a gauge whether she would do a major
concert in Singapore.
