Mention this name and the first thing that comes to mind is Malaysia’s most popular siblings. The multi-talented brothers - Norman, Yusry and Edry - are performers, songwriters and producers. They are also directors of their own company, KRU Berhad, with subsidiary companies like KRU Music Group, KRU Motion Pictures, KRU Advertising, KRU Marketing and KRU Events.
They are already a household name in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia with a track record of serving many established brands such as Pepsi, Coca Cola, Perodua, Fila, Aiwa, Peter Stuyvesant, Telekom, Hotlink, Baguz, Swatch, Genting, MSN and the list goes on and on.
To date, KRU has released 14 critically acclaimed albums, took lead roles in two blockbuster films (Awas & Cinta Metropolitan), successfully staged four domestic solo concert tours, toured in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore & Brunei and won numerous awards and recognition.
The brothers – Norman, Yusry and Edry Abdul Halim – started playing music at a very young age. Norman was 7, Yusry 6 and Edry 3 years old. Idolizing The Beatles, who were still pretty huge at the time, they imagined themselves to be John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringgo Starr and George Harrison, with imaginary guitars and drums using badminton rackets and err… their mother’s biscuit tins.
One of their aunts bought Norman a toy keyboard for his birthday and soon, it wasn’t only him who got hooked to it – his brothers were too. They started to outdo each other by playing hit songs of that time, and if one of them got to play a particular song first, then the song is considered his, and none of the others can play it.
Furthermore, they would perform the songs they have learnt in front of relatives who happens to drop by the house. What better time and which better audience than your ever-beaming family members anyway?
Coming from a close-knit family, the boys soon learnt to work together to produce their music. When they were in London during their pre-teen and teenage years, they were exposed to a wide variety of music, unlike the Malay music market at that time which was saturated with melancholic and jiwang rock ballads (think long, curly-haired skinny rockers expressing their undying love). They began to learn up on music production and made their own compilation of cover versions on cassettes.
As avid supporters of the Selangor team, they wrote a rap song especially for their favorite Malaysian football team. It was titled ‘Viva Selangor’ and it caught the team’s attention. Soon after, they produced ‘Merah Kuning’ and it was a real boost to their egos when the song was played at the stadium when the team’s playing. This was quite an achievement for a bunch of teenage boys!
And what did they call themselves at that time? SRU – Selangor Rappers Unit. ‘Nuff said…
Norman, Yusry & Edry also started penning more original songs, from ‘Sempoi’, ‘Perception of Love’ to ‘Generasiku’. Little did they know that Norman’s college friend passed their demo to Calvin Wong of EMI Malaysia. He instantly liked what he heard and called them up for an audition. It didn’t take long for him to decide to sign the boys up and KRU was officially born on 19 May 1992.
Now what on earth is KRU? It is originally just a matter of manipulating the word ‘crew’, implying that the brothers work together as a crew. But somehow the radio DJs called them K-R-U and well, everyone knows them as that and in time, it became a huge name in the local music industry.
Source from: KRU Music Group
