Taufik Batisah
Muhammad Taufik bin Batisah, (born
December 10,
1981) is the winner of the first season of
Singapore Idol. He is of mixed
Bugis and
Indian descent, and attended Boon Lay Primary School, Jurong Secondary School and
Singapore Polytechnic consecutively.
He first started out as a singer in a local group playing a mixture called
Bonafide of
hip-hop and
R&B with fellow
rapper Mark Subra.
Though starting off as a relative underdog, he was later crowned
Singapore Idol in its first season in 2004, and won a recording contract. His first album,
Blessings, was released on
14 January 2005 and went platinum in less than 10 days, selling more than 30,000 copies. He dedicated the song "Ibu" to his mother in his album. His song "I Dream" can be heard on the album
Colour-Me Tones.
He had a role in
Shooting Stars as a pizza delivery boy, who is passionate about singing but is hindered by obstacles such as lack of money to pay for singing lessons, and also
peer pressure. Shooting Stars also stars other Singapore Idol contestants, namely
Sylvester Sim,
Olinda Cho,
Daphne Khoo and
Jeassea K. Thyidor. Shooting stars was released on
9 August 2005 in
Singapore and ended on
October 11th 2005. He later recorded and performed the National Day Song for 2005, "Reach Out For The Sky", with fellow artiste Rui En.
His sophomore album, which has yet-to be named, is planned for release in July 2006.
On
28 August 2005 Taufik Batisah, who himself is an ex-smoker, was picked by
Health Promotion Board as its first Smoke-Free Ambassador.
On
4 March 2006 Taufik Batisah was nominated for Best Singapore Artist at the
MTV Asia Awards 2006, an award he went on to win.
*
TaufikBatisah.net*
"Ex-smoker Taufik Batisah named Smoke-Free Ambassador",
CNA - 28 August 2005
