Ahmad Dhani

Dhani Ahmad Prasetyo (born 26 May 1972), better known as Ahmad Dhani, sometimes Dhani Muhammad Prasetyo, Dhani S. Manaf, or just Dhani for short, is an Indonesian musician. He was the frontman of Dewa 19 with his colleague Once Mekel as the co-lead singer, and Ahmad Band, and also a member of the inter-continental band The Rock. He is the owner and chairman of Republik Cinta Management. Dhani has worked as a promoter and songwriter for other artists, including Alexa Key and Mulan Jameela. He has won numerous awards including the Indonesian Music Awards for best musical arrangement. He is one of the most influential musicians in Southeast Asia. In recent years, he has generated controversy after his son killed seven people while driving illegally, and after becoming involved in politics. In January 2019, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail for hate speech. In June 2019, he was sentenced to an additional year in jail for insulting political rivals. He was released in December 2019. Early life Dhani Ahmad Prasetyo was born in 1972 in Surabaya, East Java, as the first of three children of Eddy Abdul Manaf, a diplomat of Sundanese origin from Garut, West Java, and Joyce Theresia Pamela Kohler, an Indonesian of German descent. In 2020, Dhani denied reports that his maternal grandfather, Jan Pieter Friederich Kohler, a German born in the then-Dutch-occupied country in 1883, was an Ashkenazi Jew. Dhani said his mother and grandfather were German Catholics. Dhani's stepbrother, Dadang S. Manaf, is a well-known Indonesian musician and was a strong influence on Dhani's musical interest from his childhood. Dhani's father bought him a keyboard when he was young and enrolled him for music lessons, hoping Dhani would excel in classical music. Dhani was largely influenced by the British rock band Queen.