Iis Dahlia's Story in Pioneering a Career in Dangdut, Starting from Performing at Recreational Places to Becoming a Superstar

Iis Dahlia is a famous dangdut singer in Indonesia. Her name started to become known when she sang the song TAMU TAK DIUNDANG from her second album. The album successfully sold one million copies.

Before becoming a dangdut singer, Iis Dahlia sang from stage to stage at wedding parties or on August 17th in her hometown, Indramayu. At that time, she was still very young, sitting in fourth grade of elementary school.

Iis Dahlia continued her education in junior high school in Bandung to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. She took vocal lessons to support her voice to be even better. After that, Iis moved to Jakarta to pursue her career.

When in Jakarta, 14-year-old Iis Dahlia started performing every Saturday night at a recreational place, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. Once she performed, she would be given an honorarium of 90,000 rupiah. After that, Iis was contracted to perform as a permanent singer at Monas and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.

The first time Iis Dahlia appeared on television was when she became a guest star on the TVRI program titled WAJAH BARU in 1985. Then, a year later, she got the opportunity to perform on the same show. Through the show, the woman whose real name is Iis Laeliyah was finally contracted to make six recording albums.

Iis Dahlia's career journey was not as smooth as imagined. Previously, she had been tricked by someone who claimed to be able to bring Iis to perform in the program WAJAH BARU. It's a pity, Iis believed the person's words and spent a large amount of money of 800,000 rupiah at that time.

Initially, Iis Dahlia's focus was on singing pop music. However, the producer who offered a contract for Iis directed her to sing dangdut genre songs. The first album was not successful, but her second album entered the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) and sold out quickly.

After succeeding as a dangdut singer, Iis Dahlia also starred in soap operas and FTVs. Some of her old soap opera titles are SEPEKAN SINETRON REMAJA, GARA-GARA, SEROJA, 3 ORANG PEREMPUAN, and MATA HATI. Then, some of the FTVs that Iis starred in are MATAHARIKU, KAMPUNG DANGDUT, KEJORA, and PUTRI UNTUK BUNDA.