Taufik Batisah

Muhammad Taufik bin Batisah (Jawi: محمد تيوفيك بن بتيسه; born 10 December 1981) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter best known for winning the first season of the reality TV series Singapore Idol.

Taufik was born to a Malay family of both Indian and Buginese descent.

His parents divorced when he was 13 years old.

He attended Boon Lay Primary School, Jurong Secondary School before graduating from Singapore Polytechnic.

Taufik first started out as a singer in a local group called Bonafide, playing a mixture of hip hop and R&B with fellow rapper, Mark Subramaniam whose stage name is Mark Bonafide.

Taufik participated in the first season of the reality TV series Singapore Idol in 2004.

On 1 December 2004, Taufik was crowned the first ever Singapore Idol at the Singapore Indoor Stadium before an audience of more than 8,000 fans and 1.8 million viewers across the country.

He scored a recording deal with Sony BMG and a management deal under Hype Records' artiste management arm, ArtisteNetworks.

It was later revealed that Taufik had won 682,000 of the 1.1 million votes cast that night, while his opponent Sylvester Sim managed 418,000 votes.

Following his win, Taufik clinched a string of endorsements for brands such as Harmuni Rice, Samsung, 7-Eleven stores and HSC drinks.

He was the first Singapore artiste to endorse for the Swiss watch-maker, Swatch.

He was also the face of the "fresh air for women" campaign in Singapore.

This was aimed at reducing smoking in Singapore.

However it was shortly pulled due to a member of public documenting pictures of him smoking.

On 14 January 2005, Taufik released his first English album Blessings.

The album included Taufik's hits from the competition such as Me and Mrs Jones, Let's Stay Together, Superstition as well as the Idol winning song I Dream.

Taufik also co-wrote one track on the album titled Close 2 You.

Blessings went on to a smashing sale of 36,000 copies, making into the Singapore Guinness Book of Records as the best selling local English album in the past decade.

It remains a record unbroken in the Singapore music industry.

On 19 April 2005, Taufik held his first solo concert showcase An Evening With Taufik at the Kallang Theatre.

Fresh from recovering from tonsillitis (resulted from a non-stop four months performing schedule), he charmed both the media and full-house audience with his soulful singing and smooth on-stage moves.

In 2006, Taufik released his second album All Because of You where he wrote and produced eight of the tracks.

The English-Malay album spurred off a string of hits and further opened doors to the Malay music industry.

Title track All Because of You made its debut that the finals of the second season of Singapore Idol.

The three Malay singles on the album Usah Lepaskan, Sesuatu Janji and Sombong took the Malay music industry by storm.

He was named the Most Sellable Artiste at MediaCorp Suria's People's Choice Awards and was also awarded the Most Popular Male Artiste Award at the regional Anugerah Planet Muzik 2006.

Winning Favourite Artist Singapore at the 2006 MTV Asia Awards further elevated Taufik's career to further heights.

An iconic role model, Taufik was also voted as the Winner of Kid's Choice Wannabe Award (Singapore) at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award 2006.

Taufik continued to shine as the top artiste in Singapore, garnering the Most Popular Male Personality Award at Suria's Annual TV awards, Pesta Perdana 2007, the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Wannabe Award (Singapore) for the second consecutive year, and also the Most Popular Artiste (Singapore) Award, Most Popular Song – Usah Lepaskan (Singapore) Award and the Best Local Song – Usah Lepaskan(Singer/Composer/Lyricist) Award at the Anugerah Planet Muzik 2007.

Usah Lepaskan was also the Number 1 Song of the Year on Ria 89.7FM.

In 2007, he debuted his Malaysian album titled, Teman Istimewa (Special Friend) on 5 September and was the album long-awaited by the Malaysian Fiknatics (as his fans are called).

Taufik produced 90% of this album and three songs are the Malay version of his earlier English songs Untukmu (First), Berserah (Holding On) and Janjiku Padamu (I Promise Forever).

Seribu Tahun (A Thousand Years), a song which he co-wrote, swept the Malaysian radio charts after it became the theme song for Malaysia's Channel TV3 hit drama series, Kerana Cintaku Saerah (Because of My Love Saerah).

In 2008, Taufik won the Most Popular Artiste (Singapore) Award and Most Popular Song (Singapore) Award for his composition Berserah (Surrender) as well as the Best Singapore Artiste Award at Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008.

He also received the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture), awarded by the National Youth Council, in recognition of his achievements in the music industry and for being a role model to the younger generation.

Meanwhile, Taufik's music compositions also received greater recognition as Berserah took the No. 1 spot for Song of the Year and Teman Istimewa took 5th place on the RIA 89.7FM radio station's 2008 Top 30 Countdown.

Taufik also launched his fourth music album Suria Hatiku (Light of My Heart).

This critically acclaimed Malay album showcased a wide variety of songs of different genres and had spurned multiple Number No. 1 hits such as Gadis Itu (That Girl), Nafasku (My Breathe), Hey and Kepadanya (For Him).

The album also featured music collaborations between his mentor, Ken Lim, renowned music producer, M. Nasir, and singer, Hady Mirza.

Taufik was named the Most Popular Singapore Artiste for the third consecutive year at the Anugerah Planet Muzik Award 2009.