Siti Nurhaliza (now Dato' Siti Nurhaliza) (born on January 11, 1979, in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Malaysia) is a multiple-award winning Malaysian pop singer-songwriter. She is currently the most successful Malaysian singer. While there have been artists from Malaysia who reached international stardom but left the country in their pursuit of success, Siti Nurhaliza's career was planted and blossomed locally and as predicted, she has become an international icon respectively. She was honoured with the title Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang (DIMP) by the Sultan of Pahang which carries the title 'Datuk' infront of her name.To date, she has garnered more than 100 local awards as well as international awards.Datuk Siti Nurhaliza was born in Berek Polis kg. Awah, Temerloh. During her childhood she was involved in various school activities, including sports and class speeches. Siti Nurhaliza had her pre-school kindergarten days at the Sekolah Tabika Perkep, Balai Polis Kampung Awah, Temerloh. Here she showed her early singing talent at the age of six when she sang "Sirih Pinang", a Malay traditional song, at her kindergarten's end of year event. She had her primary school (standard 1 to standard 6) education at the Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Clifford and followed up her secondary education (Form 1 to Form 5) at the Sekolah Menengah Clifford, Kuala Lipis, Pahang. She was an athlete in school and this showed when at the opening ceremony of the Fiesta Media Idola 2006 in Kuantan she was a torch bearer to light the games of the Fiesta, together with actress Fasha Sanda.Siti had also won a singing contest when she was twelve years old. She sang the patriotic song "Bahtera Merdeka" at a Kuala Lipis Carnival in conjunction with the "Nyanyian Bulan Kemerdekaan" (Independence Month Singing Contest). It was said that perhaps she had inherited her precocious musical talent and singing flair and ability from her grandfather, who was a famous violinist, and her mother, who was a popular local singer of traditional songs.Siti Nurhaliza's family performed at many local ceremonies in their hometown, such as weddings. At the age of twelve, Siti began to learn traditional songs from her mother and went on performing that genre of music during special occasions and events. Later, as she continued to work on her singing, she participated in numerous local singing competitions. At 16, she competed in the 1995 RTM Juara Bintang competition. While there, she met Adnan Abu Hassan, a famous Malaysian music composer. He tutored her and helped her with her vocal performance, and ultimately she won the contest. After that, she was granted a contract with Suria Records and in 1996 released her first self-titled album, Siti Nurhaliza. Completing her first album was a challenge because she had to balance working on her album with her preparations for the SPM examination. Despite this, her first album was a great success, and paved the way for successful subsequent albums.Siti held a successful solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April 1, 2005, although the majority of the audience were Malaysians living in the United Kingdom and Malaysians who had travelled just to see the concert. From this concert also, major press in Britain taught her as 'Asia's Celine Dion'-due to her powerful vocal and outstanding perfomances. In her country, she is also known as one of the most successful businesswoman and cultivated brand name. She is currently named as the 'Richest Artiste' in Malaysia. To date, she has the most number one singles than any other artiste in Malaysia which dominated Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei as well as Indonesia radio stations by storm.Siti's popularity meant that she is constantly in demand for endorsements. She has sung themes for movies (eg. Puteri Gunung Ledang) and corporate jingles (eg. the Malaysian wireless communications firm Maxis). She has also been featured in various advertisements and has been spokeswoman for many well-established brands such as Maybelline, Pepsi, Jusco, TMnet, Konica Minolta, Nippon Wiper Blade, Olay, Pantene and Samsung. Career achievements: The Malaysia Book of Records * First Malaysian artiste performing a solo concert in Royal Albert Hall, London (2005) * Most Awards Won Artiste - 112 awards (2004) * Most Awards Won Artiste - 52 awards (2001) International Awards * SCTV Music Awards Indonesia 2004 - Top Foreign Artist * Indonesian Music Awards 2003 - Malaysian Best Album (E.M.A.S). * Voice of Asia 2002 - Grand Prix Champion. * Indonesian Music Awards 2001 - Most Lucrative Foreign Artist In Indonesia. * South Pacific International Song and Singing Co