Awie started his music career in Kuala Lumpur in 1985, fronting the Malaysian rock band Wings, which had an original line-up of Black (drums), Syam (guitars), Eddie (bass) and Awie (lead vocals). They debuted with the album Belenggu Irama. Their subsequent album Hukum Karma features successful singles “Misteri Mimpi Syakilla” (composed by J.S. Kevin) and “Taman Rashidah Utama” (written by a producer Bob Lokman). Various albums followed, including Teori Domino, Jerangkung Dalam Almari and Bazooka Penaka. A number of Wings’s hits are composed by singer-songwriter M. Nasir.

Awie began his acting career in 1992 with the film Pemburu Bayang. Other locally-successful films followed, the more prominent ones being Bara and the Sembilu series. Recently Awie has concentrated on comedic roles.

Awie left the band in 1993 after reported disagreements with Ali Bakar (Wings manager), and pursued a career as a solo artist and actor. He re-joined Wings in 2002 after lukewarm fan response to his replacements Mus (formerly from May) and Mel (a club singer). The band is still active. Their recent concert appearances and recordings include Wings Alive 2006 and Wings Live in KL 1991. On top of that, Awie had joined the band Samudera Astana.

During his departure from Wings in 1993, Awie recorded his first solo album called Awie (1994) which sold around 220,000 units, a record for the highest selling album for male solo artist in Malaysia to date. Followed by couples of successful Albums such as Awie Unplugged (1995), O-Tak (1996) and Satu (1998). His compilation album Best Of Awie (1999) sold around 300,000 to 600,000 units.

Months later, he was caught by several Islamic law enforcers in a hotel room with Arni Nazira, his co-star in Nafas Cinta. Their obligated marriage produced two daughters. In October 2006, Arni Nazira filed for divorce after 8 years of marriage. The reason for the divorce was claimed to be due to Awie’s marriage to Rozana Misbun in a secret ceremony in southern Thailand.

Awie married again in 2016 to Sharifah Ladyana Syed Samsuddin at Songkhla, Thailand.