David Tao
David Tao, born Tao Xuzhong , is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for having popularized R&B in the Mandopop industry.
Biography
Tao was born on July 11, 1969 in Hong Kong to parents who were entertainers in Taiwan. His father, Tao Dawei , was an actor/singer/composer/TV Host and his mother, Wang Furong, a Chinese opera singer.Tao spent part of his childhood in Hong Kong. His parents supposedly eloped when his father could not get approval to marry his mother. Tao had his education in Taiwan from kindergarten to the junior high school level at the Bethany Campus of Morrison Academy in Taipei. Later, his father decided to pursue his dream of working for Walt Disney, and they moved to the United States city of Arcadia, California. There he attended Arcadia High School while David Tao Sr. realized his dream of working as an animator in Disney Burbank.
Tao's parents later returned to Taiwan where his father began his singing career, leaving him to complete his education in the United States. Left to fend for himself, Tao took on many jobs, including a stint as a policeman in the LAPD, without the knowledge of his parents. Eventually, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology from UCLA.
Career
Whilst working as a salesman, Tao was offered a job by Taiwanese producer Wang Chih-ping and went back to Taiwan, initially writing, and later producing songs for many singers before releasing his self-titled album David Tao in 1997. He has since released four more albums, a live concert recording and a compilation of his best songs. Tao is a prolific composer and songwriter and has written songs for fellow artists such as A-Mei and S.H.E..''David Tao'' (1997)
In 1997, with the help of Wang and another Taiwanese producer, Jim Lee, Tao released his self-titled first album, under an independent label called Shock Records, set up by Taiwanese pop singer Jin Ruei-yao, and her husband. This album set a record in Taiwan during the 9th Golden Melody Awards as the first album from a new singer ever to be nominated for a total of five awards—Best Newcomer, Best Singer, Best Producer, Best Song and Best Album.The song Airport 10.30 first caught people's attention, but it was the simply arranged, melodic I Love You that became one of Tao's signature tunes. The album also featured an a cappella song, Spring Wind, which was a new R&B version of a favorite old Taiwanese song. Tao sang all the vocals in this song, which still stands today, widely regarded as one of the best a cappella songs in Chinese.
Airport 10.30 was also nominated for the MTV Awards for Best Chinese Video in 1998 along with Coco Lee, who became the eventual winner.
Tao won two of the awards, namely Best Newcomer and Best Producer, becoming the first newcomer/singer to also win a Best Producer award. Tao's first album was notable for the excellent production which, remarkably, was done in Tao's home in Los Angeles entirely. The album also broke new ground in the music style and arrangement with its strong Western-influenced R&B flavor.
Tao shot to an unprecedented meteoric rise to fame following the release of David Tao. Unable to cope with the sudden media attention, he flew back to Los Angeles soon afterwards.
Between David Tao and his next album, besides releasing a remixed Bastard Pop ep, writing and producing songs for various hit Taiwanese singers, notably a theme song which became one of Taiwanese boyband Tension's hit songs, I'll Be With You, Tao was not heard on the Mandarin-Pop scene for a long while as he quietly disappeared into obscurity.
''I'm OK'' (1999)
In 1999, two years after his first album, Tao released his second album I'm OK. This album was claimed to be a best-selling album by breaking the previous record by selling 600,000 copies, yet various critics had claimed that the impact of I'm OK was not any stronger than his previous work in terms of style and arrangement.Notable hits include:
- Rock ballad Rain, Angeline
- Country-flavored Small Town Girl
- R&B-influenced Just a Friend
- Leave, a soul number.
- Close to You, a love ballad.
- Tuberose, a catchy a cappella remake of a traditional Chinese song.
Tao was nominated for six GMA awards for I'm OK – Best Album, Best Producer, Best Singer, Best Video, Best Song and Best Song Arrangement. He only won the Best Producer Award on the GMA, but Rain later went on to win Best Chinese Video at the 2000 MTV Music Awards.
''Black Tangerine'' (2002)
In 2002, Tao released "Black Tangerine". Some notable songs in this post-911 album, of which he derived much of his inspiration from:- Black Tangerine, a hard-hitting rock song.
- Moon Over My Heart, an updated old Mandarin hit re-rendered in R&B style.
- My Anata, a Japanese-influenced rock number.
- Angel, a love ballad.
- 22, a catchy tune depicting the woes of a girl in crossroads.
- Butterfly, an under-rated song which he penned about his relationship with God.
- Katrina, a surprise demo he wrote and sang entirely in English.
- Dear God, a song he wrote for 911.
- Melody, a song for a most important woman in his life.
Dear God tells about the sadness of Tao regarding a mother of a victim who has died in 911 and stared at her son’s picture and expected him to revive. Tao uses his song as weapon to bitterly criticize terrorists. Also, this song expressed Tao’s voice that love was gradually neglected by this society; more and more people concern about money and drama more than love and equality today. Melody was written for his ex-girlfriend whose name is Melody. Tao and melody were in a relationship when Tao was 16 years old. This song was an important memory to Tao.
Black Tangerine won various awards in Asia but was, incidentally, overlooked for the Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan, where the album was originally intended for.
Tao has since held a series of successful concerts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore in 2003, having already won many fans over with his signature simplistic style.
''The Great Leap'' (2005)
In 2005, Tao released his fourth album, The Great Leap. It earned four nominations at 17th Golden Melody Awards and won the "Best Album Award".Notable songs in the album include:
- Ghost, the first single of the album, showcasing an eclectic mix of 80's Disco synth with Linkin Park-esque Metal & Rap elements. The lyrical style, a continuation of the social commentary from the previous album, describes a person's fears among a mass media-driven society that is getting too close for comfort.
- Susan Said, a track that combines Beijing Opera's unique singing accent and instrumental arrangement with Tao's signature R&B style.
- Love Can, An infectious sing-along ballad about love. A throwback to his signature tune, "I Love You" from his debut album.
- Who Do You Love, The first ballad single off the album which had tremendous commercial appeal.
- Art of War, nominated for Best Arrangement in 2006's Taiwan 17th Golden Melody Awards, this rock hit featured the "12 Girls Band" as Tao and co-arranger, Goh Kheng Long fused hard metal and traditional Chinese instruments into a song leaden with socially critical lyrics.
''Beautiful'' (2006)
''Opus 69'' (2009)
Tao's sixth album was released on August 21, 2009. It marks the return of Tao, and he developed the album with a blend of R&B, Rock and Soft Ballads.''Hello Goodbye'' (2013)
Four years after Opus 69, David Tao finally returns with the new album Hello Goodbye. The album was released on June 11, 2013. In this album, he integrated musical elements of yesterday – like classical guitar, synthesizer and harmonica – into contemporary melodies and arrangements. David teamed up with fellow singer-songwriters Tanya Chua and Crowd Lu as well as Sharon Kwan on multiple songs. Other than working with longtime collaborators waa and Ge Da Wei, he also invited Lin Xi, Huang Ting and Wu Hsiung to pen lyrics for the album.Personal life
Tao speaks in fluent Mandarin and English.Tao married Penny Chiang on August 31, 2014. It was revealed in 2015 that Tao had engaged in an extramarital affair with artist manager Ada Yang Zi Qing, whom he had first met at a post-concert celebratory dinner in late 2010, which continued even after his 2014 marriage with Chiang. When the website Quan Min Xing Tan published an interview with Yang which revealed their affair though Wechat chat screenshots in June 2015, Tao denied the cheating and threatened to file charges against Yang and the publishing website for the "malicious lies." However Yang responded with a vow to release more evidence of her affair with Tao, and challenged him to file the charges, saying she too could afford to hire a lawyer.
On July 7, 2015, Tao held a 40-minute press conference with his agent and lawyer, where he admitted that he was cheating on his wife with Yang. "Penny, Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, please forgive me. Mum, I let you down. But thank you for not leaving me and for loving me... I made a mistake, I am very sorry and I’m very ashamed of what I did," Tao said, thanking his friends and fans for their continued support.
On February 14, 2019, Tao and Penny Chiang had their first son who is nicknamed "Bonbon".
Discography
| # | English Title | Chinese Title | Release Date | Label |
| 1st | Ultrasound 1997–2003 | 樂之路 | August 8, 2003 | EMI Music Taiwan |
| # | English Title | Chinese Title | Released Date | Label |
| 1st | Adoration | 暗戀 LIVE特別版 | September 15, 2009 | Gold Typhoon |
| # | English Title | Chinese Title | Released Date | Label |
| 1st | Ultrasound | 十一號產房 | July 11, 2003 | Shok Records |
| 2nd | Soul Power Live album | 陶喆現場原音專輯 | December 20, 2003 | Shok Records |
| 3rd | Soul Power Live @ Hong Kong | 陶喆香港演唱會實況 | February 17, 2004 | Shok Records |
| 4th | David Tao Live 2009 | 1.2.3我們都是木頭人 陶喆 世界巡迴演唱會 | March 27, 2009 | Gold Typhoon |
| 5th | Live Again The Glamorous Life 2013 | 小人物狂想曲 世界巡迴演唱會 | June 8, 2017 | Seed Music |
Awards
| Year | Category | Nomination | Result | Ref |
| 2007 | Best Producer | David Tao | ||
| 2007 | Best Composer | "似曾相識" | ||
| 2007 | Best Loved by Audience | "今天妳要嫁給我" | ||
| 2007 | Top 10 Songs of the Year | "今天妳要嫁給我" |