Opick

In 2006, he was awarded the title of "Best Pop Song Writer" by Indonesian Music Awards for his song Dealova. Opick was born in Jember Regency, East Java, to Abdul Gofur and Lilik Sholelah, he is the grandson of a well-known preacher in his village, K.H. Abdul Mukti. From a young age, he has learnt how to be self-sufficient, having to live by himself in a rented boarding house because his house was far from his elementary school. Since he was in middle school, he had dreams of becoming a musician, taking great interest to music and theatre. After he graduated from high school, he moved to Jakarta to fulfil his dreams. During his stay, he participated in Bela Studio theatre group, he worked as a cleaner and would sometimes sing at bus stops from dawn. In the 90s, he formed a hard rock band called Timor Band with his close friends from Jember, many of their works received criticisms and backlash due to its harsh lyrics, he offered their demo album Nyanyian Perjalanan (lit. 'Songs of the Journey'), to many labels, but was often rejected until it was accepted in 1997 by TVRI for their short programme for new years. In 1999, Opick released a pop-rock debut album titled Pasar Malam Di Kepalamu (lit. 'A Night Market In Your Head') under his new name Au Nur, it was produced under the label Airo Records, it was later re-released under the name Jejak Langkah (lit. 'Footsteps') in 2005.