Biography

Biduanita Negara Puan Sri Datin Amar Salmah Ismail or better known as Saloma (22 January 1935 – 25 April 1983) was a Malay Singaporean-Malaysian singer, film actress, trendsetter and a fashion icon of Banjar and Bawean descent who became well known in the late 1950s until the early 1980's of Malay Cinema. Born on Pasir Panjang, Singapura, she is the sister to the actress Mariam Ismail who was also known as Mariani. She was nicknamed as the "Marilyn Monroe of The East". Saloma was well known for her vocal ability in singing, which was depicted as "lemak merdu", (a full, rather thick but sweet voice). She was signed with EMI music records and since then has released numerous EP's such as Dendang Saloma (1957), Bunga Negara (1963) and Aslirama (1972).