Tao was born in Hong Kong to parents who were famous entertainers in Taiwan. His father, Tao Da Wei, was an actor/singer/composer and his mother a very well known Chinese opera singer. Tao spent some of his childhood in Hong Kong and during his Soul Power concerts in Hong Kong, he shared some of his childhood memories. His father and mother supposedly eloped when his father could not get approval to marry his mother. Later his father decided to pursue his dream of working for Walt Disney and they migrated to US where David senior realised his dream and worked as an animator in Disney Burbank. His parents later returned to Taiwan where his father began his singing career, leaving David to complete his education in the United States. Left to himself, David took on many jobs even as a policeman in LAPD without the knowledge of his parents.
Later working as a salesman, Tao met reputed Taiwanese producer, Wang Zhi Ping, who after finding out who he was, offered him a job. So Tao went back to Taiwan writing and later producing songs for many singers. In 1997 with the help of Wang and another Taiwanese producer, Jim Lee, Tao released his first album under an independent label called Shock Records set up by Jin Ruei-yao, well known Taiwanese pop singer, and her husband. This album set a record in Taiwan during the 9th GMA as the first album from a new singer to be nominated for 5 awards - Best Newcomer, Best Singer, Best Producer, Best Song and Best Album. Tao won two awards, 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 and even more amazing, the album was entirely recorded in Tao's home in Los Angeles. The album also broke new ground in the music style and arrangement with its strong western influenced R&B flavor.
Airport 10.30 first caught people's attention but it was the simply arranged, melodic I Love You that became Tao's signature tune. The album also featured an acappella song, Spring Wind, which was a new R&B version of a favorite old Taiwanese song. David sang all the vocals in this song which remained one of the best acappella songs in 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 and unable to cope with the media attention, he went back to Los Angeles. Other then releasing a remixed Bastard 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 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, a lot of people still said that his first album was his best, forgetting that I'm Ok had the most hits, 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, in fact 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 and then had the last laugh as Rain went on to win Best Chinese Video at the 2000 MTV Music Awards. It was a mystery that I'm Ok did not win the Best Album Award when it broke the record of 600,000 albums sold. But it seems that the Taiwanese music industry has a love/hate relationship with David. They could not deny his musical talents, yet sneered at his preference for western music influences, his 'indie' way of producing his music in LA and his independence from the big record companies. His critically acclaimed third album, Black Tangerine, was not nominated for any GMA awards and one of the GMA boss even hinted that there may be problem with this album leading people to suspect David of plagarism. If that was the real problem, 80% of the albums produced in Taiwan will not be eligible for GMA nomination either.
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 consising 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 albums that has no intention of inducing hits for the karaoke lounge. Black Tangerine won a slew of awards in Asia but as mentioned before, was overlooked for the GMA in Taiwan.
David Tao is not a very prolific singer/producer but he has achieved much more than other Chinese singers who have ten or more albums to their name. Most critics now tend to compare him disparagingly with younger singers/writers/producers, forgetting that David made his name without the backing of a major record company, without any kind of hype as the next so and so, without knowing that he will be wildly successful in shaking up the Chinese entertainment world. He was the first to show both Chinese singers and listeners that music has no boundaries and the others that came after him benefited from his bold, successful attempt to break new ground in the conservative world of Chinese music.
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 Zhuo Xiong to release his long awaited fourth album, The Great Leap 2005. His latest principal track Ghost that 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.
Hi David! 2008 is about to say "bye bye" and I don't miss it much musically because of your absence!
So I'm looking forward to your new album in 2009! As always, I've got confident in your brand - David Tao - the brand you can trust in music (Hahaha...does it sound like commercial?!)
Hi David! I'm feeling bored lately. Something is missing from my life. Do you know what is missing? A new album from you! Seriously, seriously, SERIOUSLY! No joke, HANDS DOWN! It's about time don't you think so?
BTW, that new Olympics inspired song from you is simply beautiful and in my personal humble opinion, the best amongst all.
Take a good care of your health and your voice! The world can't risk "a day" without your music...
All the best, with love from Malaysia, just me-Cains
As I said before and I will still say it now and forever, your name "David Tao" is a guarantee to good and quality music! It's a brand to trust in music...HANDS DOWN!
Ok, so I must admit that I didn't enjoy your last album so much as I did and still am with "Black Tangerine" BUT I still believe in you and that's the best love a fan like me can give you in return of your music! So, keep the music playing out loud...
All the best, with love from Malaysia, just me-Cains
P/S: My guiltiest confession yet-out of all your songs, there is ONLY 1 song that I can't stand listening to..."Marry me today". I don't like the vocal arrangement expecially Jolin's....too low and too plain...Now, I'm feeling so much better...hehehe
