KUALA LUMPUR: Singer Wan Naqiuddin Mohd Najib, better known as Naqiu, had to make four attempts to convince his cousin, Zulkifli Daud, commonly known as Joey Daud, to join him as a singing partner on TV3's reality show Famili Duo.
Joey, who had left the music scene 25 years ago to focus on acting and comedy, finally agreed after repeated persuasion.
Naqiu, 37, revealed that the idea came to him after discovering they were distant cousins during a family gathering in Johor last year.
"I had been approached for the show before but couldn't find a family member to partner with," he said after the premiere of Famili Duo's fourth season, which aired live from Shah Alam, Selangor yesterday.
Though both his wife and sister are singers, Naqiu didn't want to involve them.
When he reconnected with Joey, he knew his cousin would be the perfect partner, despite Joey's long hiatus from singing and his struggle with tonsillitis for the past six years.
"I haven't sung in a long time, let alone entered a singing competition," Joey admitted.
"But after Naqiu's fourth attempt, I thought, why not give it a try?"
Joey's singing career began in the 1990s when he released two albums under Datuk M. Nasir's label, Luncai Emas.
To add to the excitement, the production team kept Joey's return to singing under wraps, saving their performance until the end of the night.
The duo performed Akhirnya Kini Pasti by Anita Sarawak and Sinaran by Datuk Sheila Majid, impressing the audience and judges alike.
Naqiu and Joey finished in second place, just behind Tomok and his cousin Sharul Kamal, who won the night's top spot with renditions of Sudirman's Aku Penghiburmu and M. Nasir's Gerhana, earning them the RM10,000 cash prize.