When Datuk Sheila Majid made her debut as an artiste in 1985, she set a precedent for a
genre new to the local music scene — jazz and R&B flavoured sound. Seven albums strong,
the ‘Ratu Jazz’ has reworked her repertoire to include three fledgling enterprises. She talks to
Anandhi Gopinath about her 25 years in music, her foray into business and  being a mother.

The overwhelming scent of lemongrass envelopes you like a soft blanket upon stepping into Jentayu Spa. Darkened steps lit gently with candles lead to a serene area one floor below the entrance, where a lush outdoor area with a picturesque gazebo greets us. Plinky-plonky Balinese music creates a serene, relaxed atmosphere. It is raining heavily the day we meet local music legend Datuk Sheila Majid, and The Edge chief photographer Abdul Ghani Ismail has to make do with the slightly dull, watery evening light to work his magic.

We are alerted to Sheila’s presence by her chirpy laugh coming from within the spa, followed by some quick hellos and a recitation of what seems like a very busy afternoon schedule. The voice that made Gemilang, Lagenda and Sinaran live in our collective musical psyches for years and years is just a few steps away; that immediately recognisable husky voice intermingled with a feminine sweetness. Suddenly,Sheila emerges into the deck area where we are seated. “Hello hello,” she says, as she exchanges the traditional salam with Ghani and me. “So sorry to have kept you waiting. Dah minum ke ni (have you had a drink?)?”

Sheila has always been known to be charming like that, and she is generous with her smiles too. There’s something very real and natural about the way her English is peppered with lots of Bahasa Malaysia, thanks to her upbringing. As we get her positioned for the photograph Ghani has in mind, she continues her barrage of chitchat on everything from the stuff she has to do for the day to some gossip about an Indonesian singer named Ariel. There is absolutely no pretence about her, no diva-like complaints about her frizzing hair or makeup melting in the humidity. Instead, she has a vivacious energy, a really kind nature and a naughty sense of humour. 

I find out about this humour of hers quite early on — in fact, just minutes after we are introduced for the first time. “You didn’t think I was this small did you?” Sheila asks me cheekily. I hesitate before replying, but she laughs it off. “Everyone thinks I’m bigger than I am, I guess because my personality is so big!”

That much is true. Standing at just five feet, Sheila’s diminutive frame has become a part of her trademark over the years, a fascinating contrast with her huge voice and bubbly personality. She is a media magnet, and over her 25-year music career, the press have never failed to report on her every move — her sell-out concerts, her top-selling albums, even her personal life.

Certainly, there has been much to report. It was Sheila who effectively created a jazz genre for Bahasa Malaysia music and put our country on the world map as she travelled far and wide to perform. In recent times, there has been fresh news to report on Sheila — from Queen of Jazz she has become Master of Reinvention, as she has also turned into an astute businesswoman.

"People in the business world tend to be very competitive and hard ... They forget the human side of things. I find the artistic side of me brings a human role into the businesses that I do."

Located in Damansara Heights, Jentayu Spa is one of three business ventures Sheila has been involved in the past seven years, raising her profile from singer to entrepreneur as well. Apart from her successful spa venture, Sheila also has her own skincare range called Jerneh and has set up a rehearsal studio called Akarkarya with her husband, musician Acis, and two other partners. 

She’s not a silent partner either. Sheila fronts all her businesses. She is the face of Jerneh, she represents Jentayu Spa in all its publicity material and she plays an active part in Akarkarya as well. For someone so entrenched in the music business, it’s a very brave thing for Sheila to reinvent herself as an entrepreneur.

“I was thinking, realistically, how long am I going to carry on singing-lah kan,” she says. “And if I was going to open up a business it had to be something I like. Just like my career — I have a deep interest in music and singing. And when you have a deep interest in a certain field, you will excel because no one needs to force you to do it, you will naturally be good at it.”

She begins to digress a little, and it’s impossible to stop this dynamo from going full steam ahead. “Most important nowadays is not the straight As — it doesn’t work like that anymore. Most important today is to earn a living. Find something you love, and then you will excel. If you’re doing something that someone else asked you to do because it is supposed to be good for you, I tell you, you’re going to be mediocre.

“My dad wanted me to be a lawyer because he said I could speak very well. But I’d probably be a really mediocre lawyer … aku malas nak baca buku (I’m too lazy to read books)! Every time there’s a case, you expect me to go and look at the dusty old books? I would lose all my cases,” she says to peals of laughter from everyone present.

The arrival of glasses of iced lime juice allows me to bring the discussion back to her businesses. So how did the spa venture begin?

“Actually I wanted to do this spa thing for quite some time,” she says. “Whenever I travel, especially to Indonesia, I make it a point to visit their spas every day and try it all out. I thought of opening a spa business here but I didn’t know how to do it — I just knew that I liked it.

“Then, I met this friend who was also very much into the idea of this business and his wife knew the how-tos, so that’s how we started back in 2003. Not only do I really like this spa thing, but I also learnt how to run the spa. Plus I get to utilise the services here for free — alah, that’s the best part,” she quips with a merry laugh.

The spa was then called Puri Santi, and a few years later it underwent a name and management change to become Jentayu Spa. Despite all the upheaval, Sheila remained involved.

The success of the spa led her to pursue another business idea she’s always had in mind — skincare. Called Jerneh, the skincare line consists of three simple ranges — anti-ageing, clarifying and anti-spotting and is manufactured by homegrown spa and beauty brand Tanamera. Faridah and Faisal Ahmad Fadzil, who run Tanamera, are Sheila’s childhood friends and Sheila grew up surrounded by the natural herbal preparations that are the mainstay of Tanamera’s business. For example, during her confinement after the births of all her children, Sheila relied on Tanamera’s special post-natal treatments.

“I was always talking to Faridah about skincare. I had in my mind my own philosophy and how to market the products. But at that time I was just berangan (dreaming) lah,” Sheila reminisces with a smile. During this time, Sheila was also inundated with skincare samples from various other brands, which she would duly give to Faridah to be checked — Sheila didn’t want to risk using unknown products on her skin. And that’s how she began to learn about the contents of skincare, and it began to interest her more and more.

A common Asian preoccupation with fairness and light coloured skin was also something that she had in mind. “We are so into whitening, and I don’t know why,” she says, gesturing animatedly. “We’re so bought over by advertisements that say we have to be fair to be beautiful. When someone gives birth, the first thing these old grandmothers ask is ‘putih ke hitam’ (fair or dark)? Or when someone gets married, they would ask ‘menantu tu putih ke hitam’ (is the bride/bridegroom fair or dark)? What is this about black and white? Is it important? I want to change this mindset. Stop it! We are beautiful in our own way. What is this about wanting to change what is God given? We are supposed to appreciate what God has given us and nurture it with good stuff. And that’s what I’m doing with Jerneh.”

Jerneh’s tagline of “take ownership of your beauty” is also its guiding principal, as Sheila feels beauty comes from a sense of responsibility to yourself. Jerneh’s principles are also based on her name, most audaciously.

“S” is for safe and simple  — “We use safe ingredients, no chemical or animal byproducts. And everything is simple to use, I don’t have the time for anything complicated,” she laughs. “H” is for halal, a label which Sheila hopes to explain goes far beyond its Islamic connotations. Halal products are subject to stringent tests for hygiene, purity and quality, and its certification is not easy to obtain. “E” is effective, “I” is innovative, “L” is luxurious and “A” is affordable.

“A lot of people tend to look down on local products and ask so many questions ... But why is it when products from the West come out, we don’t ask any questions?” She says emphatically. “I’m trying to tell people that I have been exposed to a lot of premium products and I definitely am not going to compromise my products to a lower standard. That much I can say, and I’m the guinea pig who’s tried all the products before they go on sale.”

And then of course there is the rehearsal studio, Akarkarya, which is a natural progression from her music business and that of her husband. Do her newfound business inclinations have any impact on her lifelong career in music? Sheila thinks long about this question before she answers.

“I think it works the other way around somehow,” she muses. “People in the business world tend to be very competitive and hard ... They forget the human side of things. I find the artistic side of me brings a human role into the businesses that I do. It reminds me it’s not all about making money. The spa is there because there are a lot of high-end spas that are expensive, but it’s everyday working women who really need the pampering. So this is for women who need some me time. 

“Even the rehearsal studio … It’s to nurture young musicians who may have no place to go so they can practise their craft. Better than melepak (hanging out) in shopping malls is to come here and practise lah. There are no football fields anymore either, so where are these kids going to go?” she asks.

“For me, my businesses are about things that are close to me, and not just about the money,” she finishes off by tapping the table for effect. “If you work ethically and are nice to people, percayalah (believe me), the money will come.”

* * *

Born Shaheila binti Abdul Majid in Kuala Lumpur, Sheila made her debut as a recording artiste in 1985, with an album called Dimensi Baru, and began to set a precedent for a genre new to the local music scene. Instead of the lovelorn, distressed rock music that was the flavour of the month at that time, Sheila’s music was refreshingly jazz- and R&B-flavoured.

She began to build a following and went on to stage several sell-out concerts in various cities across Malaysia. The appeal wasn’t just her melodious voice and soothing music, but who she was — this tiny, dynamite of a girl with a big voice and a completely charming personality.

Emosi was released a year later, and Sheila invaded the very protected Indonesian market. Not content with just that, Sheila spread her wings to Japan where she performed at the Tokyo Music Festival in 1989. With two well-received albums and singles, she remains the first and only Malaysian artist to successfully break into Japan, the world’s second biggest market for music.

In 1988, she released Warna, and by then her album sales abroad were outstripping sales back home. Sheila had also achieved the impossible — her music had broken all age and racial barriers and she had by now become a household name. The journey forward continued with her fourth album Lagenda, which is her best-selling to date. It was a pioneering, risky project for Sheila as the album was filled with her own interpretation of classic songs by the revered Tan Sri P Ramlee.

It was six years later that Sheila returned to the limelight, with yet another new album and completely matured voice. Her growing fame and newfound velvety smooth voice also meant that Ratu would feature collaborations with some of the world’s best musicians — most notably bassist Nathan East of US-based jazz group Four Play.

The sound of her music had spread to the UK, and Sheila staged a sell-out concert in London’s West End in 1996. That same year, Sheila was invited by Ronnie Scott’s, the jazz Mecca of the music world, to take to the very stage where her idols like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder had once performed.

Two albums — Ku Mohon in 1999 and Cinta Kita in 2003 — followed. Sheila was the first local artiste to perform at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and also pioneered Malaysia’s entrance to the competitive music industry in Indonesia, paving the way for newer artistes like Datuk Siti Nurhaliza.

It’s not to say that Sheila has had an easy life through all this. While her music career was overwhelmingly successful, her personal life wasn’t entirely a bed of roses. Sheila’s marriage to producer Roslan Aziz crumbled very publicly, and ended in divorce. The whole country cried with Sheila as the drama unfolded in the newspapers — Sheila was by this time an intrinsic part of popular culture and a well-loved figure everyone wanted to see happy.

"I'm just someone who works hard to live well for my family. I have a high-profile job, that's the only difference."

So the whole country celebrated with Sheila as she picked up her life and found love again in 2003 with Acis (whose real name is Hasridz Murshim Hashim Abdullah), a keyboardist with a popular 1980s band named Gersang. They now have two children together, bringing her brood to a total of four.

Twenty-five years after her successful start in the music business, Sheila juggles being a mother, musician and businesswoman. No easy task, as any woman will readily point out. Which comes first?

“I love being a mum! My ambition is to be a housewife, lah,” she jokes. “But no lah seriously, mother is number one, I would drop everything in a second for my children. My music comes second, and the rest comes after that. I believe that if your family life is in shambles; nothing you do is going to work. Most important is your foundation. It must be strong. So if anything else in your life is facing major problems, no sweat. But if you are not happy at home, you are not going to be able to focus properly on anything else in your life.”

The most amazing part of Sheila’s story begins to emerge — that she has achieved so much and made herself so much more than a singer, but she’s still very much a mother and a woman whose main goal in life is to provide for her family.

“People like to label me,” she says thoughtfully. “Ratu Jazz lah, and so on. I can’t stop people from doing this. I’m just someone who works hard to live well for my family. I have a high-profile job, that’s the only difference. Everyone wants to do the best for their families. I do things with the family in mind, whatever I do is so I can have time off with the kids, so I can take holidays with them, so I can afford to pay for their education. This is normal, for all women!”

Perhaps there is a misconception of what life is really like for someone like Sheila — whether she’s singing on stage or promoting Jerneh somewhere, she’s really just like any one of us trying to earn a living in the big city. “People have this perception that I’m all Hollywood — hello, this is KL lah,” she grins. “The perception of a glamorous life is not true. We just look glamorous because people expect us to, thanks to our work. You should see me at home and what I wear there,” she says, again to laughs all around.

“I’m going into my businesses now because I know I don’t have too many years left to sing,” she adds, just as the laughter dies down. “I think my fans wouldn’t want to hear that either. As far as Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, I’ve reached a ceiling. I will still release albums though, because that’s what I love doing.”

It is no doubt that many people look to Sheila as an example, and it cannot be denied that she is a role model for girls and women everywhere, a woman and a mother who does actually have it all. No, it’s not easy but yes, it is in fact possible. Does she have any advice for those seeking this kind of success?

“Anything you do, buat lah bersungguh-sungguh (do it with complete passion). I notice that Malaysians are accepting mediocrity, and we should stop that. We want to go for excellence, and it’s something we can all do, if we want it badly enough.”

This article appeared in Options, the lifestyle pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 814, July 12-18, 2010