Biography

Joni Anwar, also known as Joni Raptor (born August 30, 1981) is a Thai pop singer and actor. He was born in Bangkok, Thailand and has Indonesian-Scottish ancestry. He graduated from Bangkok Patana School in 2000.

Anwar started his career by doing television commercials for Ovaltine, Bata, Krissadanakorn and others before he signed a record deal with RS Promotion.

In 1994, Anwar began his musical career in the rap duo Raptor, with Louis Scott. After the group disbanded in 1998, Joni participated in his younger brother’s self-titled debut album, Anan Anwar. Not long after that, Joni began a solo career and released three albums: Bad Boy, Freeman, and Outtaspace.

Raptor

Joni and Louis Scott were 12 and 13 years old when as Raptor they released their self-titled debut album in August 1994. They were the youngest singers in Thailand at that time. Their clothes were the height of youth fashion at the time and inspired teen fashion in Thailand. They also roller-bladed and skate-boarded and some teens copied them in this respect.

The duo’s name was inspired by the two dinosaurs in the kitchen near the end of the movie Jurassic Park. The two though the name would be a good idea for a name as “raptor” sounds like “rapper,” and because, similar to the dinosaurs in the movie, Anwar and Scott perceived themselves as “naughty.”

“Kid Thung Ter” was the big hit. “Super Hero” and “Kum Wa Peun” also charted. Their album sold over a million copies.

On September 24, 1994, Raptor participated in a joint concert at MBK Hall with British hip hop group Hijack, debuting a collaboration track entitled, “Yha Kid Wa Ter Mai Mee Krai”. The song was later released on one of Hijack’s greatest hits albums. On 17 Nov 1995 they performed a concert with other RS artists at Amy Sport Stadium, debuting their song, “Kow Kew.” This song is in Hot Collection 4.

After releasing their collaboration album The Next, Anwar and Scott released their fourth studio album, Raptor Goodbye. This was supposedly their last album together before they both separated and went on their own separate ways. This was disappointing news to some of their fans. “Goodbye” is something like DAY SHOCK, to thank their fans. “Sayonara Goodbye” is the old song by Pat Karby but it was rewritten in Thai. In the English part of sayonara goodbye, Joni & Louis wrote themselves.

The famous songs were “Sayonara Goodbye”, “Oh Yes”, “In My Heart”, “Go Go Go!”, and “Ruu Tao Bang Mai”. Raptor Monchos Dance Concert, on 4 July 1998 at MBK Hall, was the biggest concert in this album. But not the last concert. They had tour concerts around Thailand along July and August 1998.

The Memory (May 1998) is a collection of their hits from all of their albums. Some are in remixed version. A special song, “Kwam Shong Jum” (The memory), is included. This is the last album of Raptor.

Goodbye Concert Sayonara Raptor on ……, 1998 at MBK Hall, is the last concert of Raptor. The concert was big, fun, and sad too. Their fans cried again and again. It was really sad when Joni said “Prong nee mai mee Raptor eek leaw na krub” (Tomorrow has no more Raptor).

Anwar’s debut solo album, Bad Boy, was released in May 2000. Anwar worked together with Montonn Jira  and composed a song “Go Now,” which received FAT AWARD: RECORD OF THE YEAR AWARD from 104.5 FAT Radio in year 2002. This song appeared on the album Freeman.

Anwar recorded “Yak Hai Ru Wa Rak Ter” (I want you to know that I love you) for the movie Sexphone, which turned out to be a big hit.

Anwar composed a song “Outtaspace” which received FAT AWARD: RECORD OF THE YEAR AWARD from 104.5 FAT Radio in year 2003.

Katsue

With fellow Thai teen idol, Montonn Jay Jira, Anwar formed the band Katsue.

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Page Link: joni-anwar
Updated by: chenna
Last Update: August 27, 2014