KUALA LUMPUR: Google Malaysia has honoured legendary singer, actress, fashion and style icon Puan Sri Saloma with a doodle on its search engine's homepage today.
The artwork depicting a 1950s Saloma in her trademark golden, sleeveless dress, long black skirt, long white gloves and beehive hairdo, gripping a stationery microphone with both hands and smiling radiantly, was to commemorate the day she received the Biduanita Negara title in 1978.
Saloma, whose real name is Salmah Ismail, was the country's first Biduanita Negara. She and the late Datuk Sharifah Aini, who received the title in 2006, are the only Malaysian female singers to have been honoured with the title bestowed by the entertainment industry.
"A trend-setter of Malaysian entertainment from the late 1950s through the early 1980s, Saloma recorded over 500 songs, and through her charismatic film work she paved the way for future generations of actresses in her country," wrote Google on its Doodles page today.
Saloma, born in Singapore on Jan 22, 1935, died in Kuala Lumpur on April 25, 1983.
She began training as a vocalist when she was seven.
In her teens, she toured nightclubs and weddings as a professional singer, and began acting in the 1950s.
After marrying the legendary multi-talented entertainer Tan Sri P. Ramlee in 1961, she became known as one half of the country's "legendary power couple" who revolutionised the Malaysian entertainment industry.
"Sporting her signature coiffed hairdo and inimitable clothing (much of which she sewed herself), Saloma starred in movies throughout the 1960s and released albums for the rest of her life.
"Thank you, Saloma, for using your artistic gifts to inspire women in Malaysia and beyond to be themselves," wrote Google.
Google is the world's most popular search engine, and uses Google Doodles as a special, temporary alteration of the Google logo on its homepages to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures.