Login
From international pop star to politics and back: A look into Datuk Aishah’s illustrious 40-year journey (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Sensational pop singer Datuk Aishah was one of Malaysia’s ultimate ‘IT girls’ of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
She first found global fame as the frontwoman of Kiwi synth-pop outfit The Fan Club (marketed locally as Aishah and The Fan Club), famously breaking into the US Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the first and only Malaysian to win a New Zealand Music Award.
Upon returning home, she instantly dominated the local music landscape. Anchored by her evergreen solo masterpiece Janji Manismu, this era cemented her legendary status and brought a succession of major industry accolades.
Following a celebrated 20-year musical career that included a decade-long lawsuit, Aishah pivoted to politics in 2012.
She initially joined PAS — even contesting a parliamentary seat in the general election — before later moving to the progressive splinter party, Amanah, under the Pakatan Harapan banner.
She eventually exited politics after an eight-year stint, returning full-time to entertainment where she won Astro’s Gegar Vaganza in 2017 and was conferred a Datukship in 2022.
Now in her golden years, the 61-year-old is busy preparing for what could be her final major solo concert, Aishah: 40 Chapters of Love, Live in Concert, set to take place at Mega Star Arena this July 4.
Aishah and The Fan Club days
“I think it was a bit of a novelty back then, to see a Malaysian with a bunch of New Zealanders at that time... When I think back about it, that must’ve been pretty radical,” Aishah told Malay Mail.
Before cementing their legacy, the four-piece funk-pop outfit — consisting of Malcolm Smith, Glenn Peters, Dave Larsen, and future Malaysian Idol judge Paul Moss — went by the borderline red-flagged moniker of Soul on Ice.
Aishah, who was pursuing Political Science and Early Childhood Education at the University of Auckland, caught their attention after placing third in New Zealand’s 1986 Telequest talent competition.
Following her win, she was courted by both Soul on Ice and Peking Man, a major local act seeking to find a replacement for their vocalist Margaret Urlich.
Aishah ultimately chose the former to forge her own identity.
“Peking Man already had like three or four number one hits.
“I felt that if I went with them, I would constantly be compared to Margaret Urlich,” she explained.
Renamed Aishah and The Fan Club, the band signed with CBS New Zealand (now Sony Music), dropping two full-length studio albums: Sensation (1988) and Respect the Beat (1989).
They enjoyed a string of hits like Sensation and Paradise, eventually winning Artist of the Year at the 1991 New Zealand Music Awards.
The band even breached the global stage when a Mark S. Berry remix of Don’t Let Me Fall Alone charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay.
Yet, navigating international stardom in a pre-internet era proved unsustainable, prompting CBS New Zealand to pull funding.
“In hindsight, some were saying that we should have just been sent there (to the US) to work the promotions.
“We had another single that we think would have done really well in the American market called Never Gave Up On You, but since we were on the other side of the world, without the technology that we have now, we’ve lost the momentum unfortunately,” Aishah said.
Homecoming and going solo
Following the big win at the New Zealand Music Awards, Aishah was offered a solo role by CBS back home — where the initial idea was that she would go solo while waiting for the green light on The Fan Club’s third album — which unfortunately never came, and the group later disbanded in 1993.
It was around this same time that she recorded and released her iconic Janji Manismu single which won her numerous awards and accolades locally when it came out in 1990.
This includes winning the Song of the Year at the fifth edition of Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) as well as the best vocal category. Janji Manismu also saw Aishah sweeping the Most Popular Female Singer and Most Popular Artist categories at the Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian (ABPBH) that same year.
Despite her success, Aishah admitted that in her early days, there were those who were sceptical of her talent with some questioning her fluency in Bahasa Malaysia due to her time abroad and some even belittling her role in The Fan Club, claiming that she was just riding on the band’s fame.
“I was pretty offended when they say that I was riding on the band’s popularity, sometimes people can be so mean.
“If I’m that disposable, the band could’ve easily found someone else to replace me but the fact that they didn’t really does say something.
“I mean, give me some credit at least,” she said.
As for those questioning her fluency in her own mother-tongue — Aishah shut down the critics following her exceptional performance of Bahtera Merdeka during a live session on RTM’s Hiburan Minggu Ini in 1991 where she was also joined on stage by the late legendary composer and musician Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan.
Between 1990 and 1995, Aishah released five studio albums under CBS (which later changed to Sony Music Malaysia), with her first three albums (Aishah, Aishah II, and Aishah III – Asia... Sedunia) achieving multi-platinum status, each selling over 100,000 units in Malaysia.
She also managed to complete her Master’s Degree in Political Science and her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education during that time.
Looking back, Aishah admitted that there were several unanswered questions and “what-ifs” lingering at the back of her mind, such as why she didn’t continue putting out English solo songs after her return.
“To be honest, I’m not quite sure myself as to why nobody offered me to do solo English songs.
“You would think that would be the most natural step right? Especially when you started with English songs.
“But for some reason when I started singing in BM, almost everybody forgot that I used to sing in English,” she said.
She also pointed out that she sometimes wondered what would have happened if Aishah and The Fan Club had switched labels after their final album.
It is also worth noting that Aishah actually made a temporary move from Sony Music MY to EMI Malaysia between 1996 and 2000 where she signed a contract with the label for the production of three studio albums.
However, the label prematurely terminated the deal in June 1999 before producing the third record.
In response to the contract termination and unpaid royalties, Aishah officially filed a RM406,000 breach-of-contract lawsuit against EMI. To complicate matters further, EMI went ahead and commercially released her festive album, Pulanglah Perantau, in early 2000.
After a gruelling ten-year battle that also impacted her music career, the High Court finally ruled in Aishah’s favour. The judge completely dismissed EMI’s countersuit and ordered the label to pay her general damages and full legal costs in November 2009.
Getting political
Following the filing of her lawsuit against EMI, Aishah went back to Sony Music Malaysia and produced two more albums, tallying a total of 10 albums throughout her solo career which culminated in her 2010 Islamic spiritual album Anak before her eventual move into politics.
She started her political career with the Islamist party PAS which was under the leadership of the late ‘Tok Guru’ Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. She was also among the wave of local artists who decided to join PAS at the time, a movement known as the ‘gelombang penghijrahan artis’ (wave of artists migration).
Among other celebrities who were part of this wave were Gerak Khas actress Abby Abadi as well as the late prominent lyricist, actor and comedian Bob Lokman.
“At the time, there were issues that I had seen myself, it was within my own circle.
“I’ve seen corruption and of course I couldn’t just keep quiet about it.
“So, that’s how I started,” she said.
Fast-tracked by her celebrity status, Aishah quickly transitioned from a regular member to an executive committee member of the PAS women’s wing before she was eventually entrusted with the ‘watikah’ to run for the parliamentary seat of her hometown Jempol in Negeri Sembilan in the 13th General Election (GE13) in 2013.
She ran against Barisan National heavyweight Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, who at the time, had served as the Negeri Sembilan’s menteri besar for over 20 years.
Despite reports indicating that Aishah had a fairly visible campaign, she lost the parliamentary seat to Isa who won it with 31,124 votes, giving him a majority of 8,629 votes whereas Aishah managed to garner 22,495 votes.
“I realise that when I lost the GE13, I was like the happiest loser because I can go back to my life.
“I felt tortured because I was away from my children and at that time, all my schedule was done for me, there was no life and you didn’t get much say on it.
“So, when I lost, I was like yes, let’s go home to the kids,” she said.
Following her GE13 loss, Aishah remained with PAS for two more years before shifting to Amanah in 2015.
This move came amid an ideological schism within PAS, which grew increasingly conservative after the passing of their spiritual leader Nik Aziz.
Mirroring her entry during the celebrity “migration”, her exit aligned with a second wave of departures — the historic G18 mass exodus — where prominent progressives and technocrats like Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, Khalid Samad, and Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad left PAS to establish the Amanah.
Away from politics and back to entertainment
By 2017, Aishah had gradually returned to entertainment by entering and winning the grand prize at Astro’s singing competition Gegar Vaganza.
She officially exited politics in July 2018 after helping Amanah with their campaign during the 14th General Election that year.
Despite the ups and downs she faced in the political arena, Aishah said that politics taught her a lot about herself and how she reconnected with her true calling as an artist.
“It was not a bad experience at all. It was good because it taught me who I am and what I like and what I don’t like.
“I still love to help people but I want to do it my own way through my talents.
“I’m also giving way to those who could really do the job, let them continue the fight,” she said.
Following her return to entertainment, Aishah not only participated in a couple of singing competitions but also held her own solo concert with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022.
She was also conferred a Datukship by the ruler of her home state, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir in that same year.
She even released a new single titled Taman Keabadian last year and she will also be holding another solo concert, which might be her last, this July 4.
Tickets for her upcoming concert coined as Aishah: 40 Chapters of Love, Live in Concert are still available via www.ticket2u.com.my, which are priced between RM288 and RM788.
