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 the year 2000.
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Anwar started his career by doing television commercials for Ovaltine, Bata, Krissadanakorn and others before he signed a record deal with RS Promotion.
He started his singing career in the rap duo Raptor, with Louis Scott. The group disbanded in 1998. After the group disbanded, Joni participated in his little brother's self-titled debut album, Anan Anwar. Not long after that, Joni went solo and released three albums: (Bad Boy, Freeman, and Outtaspace).
Joni and Louis 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 some teens dressed up like them. They also roller-bladed and skate-boarded and some teens copied them in this respect.
"Raptor" was inspired by the two dinosaurs in the kitchen near the end of the movie Jurassic Park. Their Latin name is "Velociraptor" and "raptor" sounds like "rapper" The other reason is Joni and Louis were naughty like those two Velociraptors so they were called Raptor.
"Kid Thung Ter" was the big hit. Super Hero and Kum Wa Peun were also on chart. Their album sold over a million copies, which is considered very successful in Thailand. They became a popular band. Their lives have changed since then.
They had a big concert, Joni & Louis Ta Luy Hijack, on September 24, 1994 at MBK Hall with Hijack. They sang a new song, "Yha Kid Wa Ter Mai Mee Krai" with Hijack. This song is in Hijack top hits album. On 17 Nov 1995 they had a concert with RS's singers at Amy Sport Stadium. They sang Kow Kew with other singers. This song is in Hot Collection 4.
They started WAAB Boys album by appearing on MTV Asia. "Yah Pud Leay" (Don't speak) was the biggest hit in this album.
They wore contact lenses with different color in each eye: one is blue and one is green.
A special album, they worked with other singers such as Dome Pakorn Lum, James Ruengsak, JR Kittikulwong, Oil Thana Suttikamol, Lift, and Voy.
After The Next, Joni and Louis released their new album titled 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. Some fans cried when they learned that Raptor were going to quit. "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).
With fellow Thai teen idol, Montonn Jay Jira, Anwar formed the band Katsue.[1]
Joni enjoys all kind of sports especially water sports. He won the third prize in wakeboarding at the X-games Thailand 1998. He joined the Asian X-games in Phuket, too.
Joni attended Bangkok Patana School in Bangkok, Thailand. Louis Scott attended the same school as well, but they were in different grades. This school is an exclusive, International British School and spoke/taught in English only.
He has a younger brother, Anan, who is also a singer and an actor.