Biography[edit]
Maria became a successful artist when she won the 2005 Kristal Idol contest in conjunction with His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam's birthday celebrations.[citation needed] At that time, she was still studying at the Raja Isteri Girls High School.[citation needed] Her current manager is Hjh Zaimah.[citation needed] Maria never aimed for a career in singing, but her talent has come naturally.[citation needed] Her ambition is actually in the field of medicine and she works hard towards this.[citation needed]
Maria debuted her first album with the band N'Destine, and is due to release her second album in early / mid February.[citation needed] Maria is also currently nominated for Brunei's most popular female singer.[citation needed] With a humble attitude and a personal commitment towards doing her best on whatever she does, Maria is a top-flight singer who can hold her own against other, foreign artists.[citation needed]
Maria has performed at various state functions such as His KBDYM Majesty's Birthday.[2] She also regularly performs at corporate events such as those from Baiduri Bank Group[3] (she is a spokeswoman for this bank's FAST product) and TOTAL.[citation needed] Maria won Most Popular Female Artist at the 2008 Radio Television Brunei awards.[4]
She released an album, 'Sesaat Kau Hadir', on May 23, 2009.[5] She released her new single "Cinta Ku" song collaboration with composer Lily Chiam. On the 13 of February 2011, she launched her new single Biar Sampai Akhir at Kallang CC Singapore song with Merah band from Singapore, together with an official music video produced by Singaporean production company Merah In Motion. Aires will be representing Brunei at the first ABU Radio Song Festival 2012, which is scheduled to take place at the KBS Concert Hall in Seoul, South Korea on 11 October 2012.[6][7]