David Tao was born on 11 July 1969. He is the oldest singer among the three other major stars in the “Mando” media. He speaks English fluently and has a Master degree from UCLA. David Tao is a typical perfectionist who does everything to achieve perfection. His hobbies are watching movies & dramas, visiting museums and reading psychology books. David Tao studied in Taiwan from kindergarten to junior high school, then returned to America from high school onward. In 1997, David Tao entered the entertainment business. “Airport 10.30” was the first song to catch people’s attention, but it was the simply arranged, melodic “I Love You” that became Tao’s signature tune. The album also featured an a cappella song, “Spring Wind”, which was a new R&B cover of a classic Taiwanese song. David sang all the vocals in this song which remained one of the best a cappella songs in Mandarin Chinese. “Airport 10:30” was also nominated for MTV award for Best Chinese Video in 1998 along with Coco Lee, who was the winner. Tao became famous overnight; unable to cope with the media attention, he went back to Los Angeles. Other then releasing a remixed “Bastard” pop EP, writing and producing songs for Taiwanese singers such as A-Mei, and producing theme for Ford cm which was later to become one of Tension’s hit songs, “I’ll Be With You,” David disappeared from the Chinese language entertainment scene. In 1999, two years after his first album, Tao released his second album “I’m OK”. Although this was his best selling album, many still considered his first album to be his best, despite the fact that “I’m OK” had more hit singles, from the rock ballad “Rain,” the country flavored “Small Town Girl,” the classic R&B “Ordinary Friends,” the soulful “Leave”, to the love ballad “Close to You.” In this album Tao tried many musical styles, including his favorite, rock music. Each song is different in their style and music arrangement. David was nominated for six GMA awards - Best Album, Best Producer, Best Singer, Best Video, Best Song and Best Song Arrangement. He only won the Best Producer Award, but he had the last laugh as “Rain” went on to win Best Chinese Video at the 2000 MTV Music Awards. His critically acclaimed third album, “Black Tangerine,” was not nominated for any GMA awards. In the second part of 2002, Tao released “Black Tangerine,” an album that cannot be easily categorised although it was a classic David Tao album. It has a hardhitting rock song, “Black Tangerine,” an updated old Mandarin hit in R&B style, “Moon Over My Heart,” a rousing song that makes you smile, “My Anata,” a love ballad, “Angel,” some great tunes, “22” and “Butterfly,” and a few alternative songs, “Dear God” and “Lullaby,” as well as a surprise hit in the English demo, “Katrina”. What set “Black Tangerine apart” was the strong social commentary including a track consisting of news snippets. While “Black Tangerine” did not have the wonderful melodic feel of his first album or the hits of “I’m OK,” it was an album that wanted to reach out to people’s hearts and minds with the power of music. It’s one of the few Chinese language albums that has no intentions of inducing hits for the karaoke lounge. “Black Tangerine” won a slew of awards in Asia but was overlooked for the GMA in Taiwan. David has since held a series of successful concerts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore in 2003. His concerts like his music are simple in concept but dynamic in delivering 100% of pure music to his audience. After almost 3 years since David’s last major album release, David Tao teamed up with producer Li Zhuoxiong to release his long awaited fourth album, “The Great Leap 2005”. His latest principal track “Ghost” describes a person’s fears among a mass media driven society that is getting too close for comfort. “Susan Says” is a track that skillfully combines Beijing Opera sounds with David’s exceptional contemporary music style. “The Great Leap 2005” is David’s most successful album so far. |
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