[EXCLUSIVE] This Is Innuendo Feel – Soul City Concert, OG Lineup Photo Drop, Reymee Hussein Speaks To TRP
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If this article had a background music, it would be Peaches & Herb’s Reunited… ‘coz it feels so good.
One photo. That’s all it took to get die-hards of local R&B band Innuendo all excited.
On Friday evening (3 July), the band’s official Facebook and Instagram pages dropped a snapshot of four men, captioned simply “Salam Jumaat“.
The four men are of course none other than the group’s original line-up, the core members that made Innuendo a household name since their first album back in 1997.
Saiful Amir Abdul Wahab (Pot), Shamshul Azhar Nazeer (Sam), Ahmad Tajuddin Mohamed Tahir (Taj) and Reymee Mohamed Hussein were all smiles in the photo, which we have it on good authority, was snapped yesterday itself at a restaurant in the Klang Valley, despite them cheekily saying on Instagram “AI la ni dah terer.” (AI is getting really good these days.)
On the surface, it was a simple meet up between four friends who happened to have a history as being part of one of Malaysia’s epic success stories in the music industry.
The deeper buzz surrounding the photo however is tied to the “Soul City: An R&B Night” concert happening next Friday (10 July) at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil.
READ MORE: Soul City: An R&B Night Set To Reunite Malaysia’s R&B Legends At Unifi Arena
At the press conference to announce the R&B concert last month, which would feature several big names in the local music industry including Innuendo, only Pot and Taj were in attendance.
Sam, as many know, relocated to Kuching, Sarawak and now lives there with his family. Reymee left Innuendo many years ago and has not made any official appearances with the band since his departure.
So for fannuendos to see all four together just a week before the concert is nothing short of exciting.
For the record, there has been no confirmation that Sam and Reymee will be part of Soul City next week (but hope, as they say, springs eternal).
90s Heartthrob Reymee Hussain Talks About Innuendo After Years Of Retirement
Every fannuendo is aware how Reymee has long retired from the music industry. He left and never looked back. Reymee has pretty much stayed away from the limelight, not even bowing to the pressures of modern society to have a social media presence.
Which is why this right here is a historical moment in Malaysia’s R&B scene as he agreed to take a stroll down memory lane and answer a few questions for us.
We asked him what is his fondest memory of being an Innuendo member, a band he founded back in 1992 while he was still in school.
The son of legendary drummer, the late Mohamed Hussein Idris of The Strollers, said there were two.
All the ex-members of Innuendo and our singing experiences from when I started the group in 1992 in school.
Reymee Hussein on one of his fondest memories
The second, was the 1998 Anugerah Industri Musik (AIM) where the group won what he described as “those unexpected awards“.
The “unexpected awards” were what cemented the group in Malaysian R&B history, and we’ll get more into that later.
When asked if fans can ever expect a third album from the OG four lineup, Reymee laughed, perhaps his way of reaffirming his retirement, and said, “Perhaps for the rest of the guys (Pot, Taj and Sam) it’s a possibility. May need to ask them about it.”
With just two albums, Innuendo remains a household name, never to be forgotten. To Reymee, this was something he never thought of.
We were simply focused on creating stuff that we wouldn’t cringe (about) when we were gonna sing them on stage
Reymee Hussein
Cringe? Not a chance, at least according to this writer. From Selamanya to Belaian Jiwa to Until the End of Time to Nanti to Bodysong, and even Trois (although this is not for young listeners), every song was carefully crafted to last.
Do people still ask him about making a comeback? Reymee said yes.
“If I were to get a dollar everytime. But we are truly humbled and flattered. And we thank everyone for their years of appreciating us,” he remarked.
Will he be attending Soul City the concert? At this point, Reymee said he was not sure. But if he did, he would be there to support his band brothers in the audience.
(This writer is still hoping and manifesting a full OG lineup reunion.)
“Katak Bawah Baseball Cap.” This was what Reymee said when asked about the reaction Friday’s photo had garnered on social media. What he meant was that he has no social media accounts and was not able to see the reactions for himself.
“A few people forwarded me the photos they posted. Cos I don’t have any social media presence so I wouldn’t know. I am literally like ‘katak bawah baseball cap’,” Reymee told this writer.
It was a brief interview. No confirmation of a full reunion. Nothing more than just a quick stroll down memory lane. However, this is still one for the books. A retired member of Innuendo reminiscing about the good old days.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is Innuendo feel.
Now let’s take a look back at how Innuendo helped shape the R&B scene, paving the way for other acts to flourish.
Innuendo, Selamanya in our hearts
The year is 1998. AIM is in its fifth year and the night belonged to Innuendo.
Armed with their first self-titled album under Positive Tone Records, they took home the awards for Best Local English Artist, Best Local English Album, Best Album Recording, Best Arrangement in a Song for their cover of Carefree’s Belaian Jiwa, and Best Song of the Year for Selamanya, composed by Azlan Abu Hassan with lyrics by Cahaya Pena and Rizal Kamaruzzaman.
BrandNuendo
Not long after that, Sam left the band. In 2001, Pot, Reymee and Taj released a second album titled BrandNuendo. Sadly, this would be the last studio album for a band that was among the pioneers of the R&B scene in Malaysia.
Pot, Taj and Reymee did not disappoint with BrandNuendo which included hit numbers like Only Dancin’, Gemawan and Ratu Hati.
It bagged a couple of nominations at the ninth AIM but there was no repeat of the night they had at the fifth. Regardless, the album remains a favourite among fannuendos.
“And right about now we’d like to introduce to you our fourth member.. Mr Ahmad Izham Omar.” This was part of Live Feel in BrandNuendo, as mentioned, when Sam stepped out and there were only three of them.
So of course, no mention of Innuendo is complete without an acknowledgment of Ahmad Izham, the recording company founder who discovered the band in the first place. He ran Positive Tone Records which saw the birth of many names that remain in our playlists to this day such as Poetic Ammo, OAG, Juliet The Orange, Nice Stupid Playground, among others.
As the years went by, Reymee made his exit. It was an exit that included a full retirement from the music industry. At this point, all fans had were memories of the good old days and Innuendo’s two albums on repeat.
However, even with the others leaving and returning, Innuendo never disbanded. It can be said that Pot kept the flames burning through the years.
Sam, who went on to pursue a solo singing career, later returned to the band’s fold.
In 2019, Pot and Sam performed Belaian Jiwa and Selamanya at the KL Jamm Festival. The response was spectacular as the very next year, three of them reunited to announce their very first mega concert.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 had other ideas. The concert was announced via a press conference in March 2020 for April that same year.
With tickets already on sale, a postponement was announced on 16 March 2020 as Malaysia, and the world, prepared to go into a full lockdown due to the pandemic. The concert never materialised. Refunds were issued, lockdowns went from months to a couple of years, soon the postponement became a cancellation.
Since then, there was zero chatter of an Innuendo concert, until one fine day in June 2026, when event organiser Menara Network dropped a surprise announcement: Innuendo would be part of the Soul City lineup at Malaysia’s premier concert venue, Unifi Arena.
This was no showcase, no mini show, no intimate performance. This was it. Although this isn’t exclusively an Innuendo concert, this will be an R&B Night to remember.
Fannuendos, this one’s for us. For the times we spent perusing the cassette inlay, memorising the lyrics, singing along to their songs in our cars.
See you at Unifi Arena, the floor is for us to share!
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[EXCLUSIVE] This Is Innuendo Feel – Soul City Concert, OG Lineup Photo Drop, Reymee Hussein Speaks To TRP
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