Tomok

Shah Indrawan bin Ismail (born 17 May 1984), known as Tomok, is a Malaysian singer and the winner of the third season of One in a Million (OIAM), a reality TV singing competition.

He became the first male contestant and the first recording artist to do so in the history of the competition.

He is also the lead vocalist of a Malaysian band called New Boyz.

Tomok was born in Negeri Sembilan on 17 May 1984 and was raised in Kuala Lumpur.

He is the fourth child of six.

His older sister, Ismaliza Ismail (Isma) is also a singer and participated in Akademi Fantasia (season 7).

He started singing at the age of 8 and was inspired by his favourite group, Exist, after he went to see their concert in 1992.

Tomok also named Tan P. Ramlee as his idol.

His nickname "Tomok" was given to him by his childhood friends as he was known to be the chubby kid in the neighbourhood.

Tomok is derived from the two Bahasa Malaysia words tamak, meaning "glutton", and gemok, meaning "fat", thus Tomok.

When he was 15-years-old he was enrolled as the lead singer of a band called New Boyz.

He gained instant fame with the band.

However their popularity waned as the years went by.

Tomok recorded six albums together with New Boyz between 1999 and 2008.

While with New Boyz, Tomok was often criticised by the public for singing with a nasal voice (suara sengau).

In one of the OIAM episodes, Tomok mentioned that the band was pelted with stones during some of their live performances.

In December 2008, Tomok signed-up for the audition of the third season of a reality TV singing competition called One in a Million organised by local TV station, 8TV.

As the show has a reputation of selecting only the best talent and voice around the nation, many predicted that Tomok wouldn't advance far in the competition.

Tomok went into the audition with his guitar and a new image, but one of the judges, i.e.; Paul Moss commented that his new image is like "a busker in the LRT station".

During the audition Tomok was asked by Syafinaz on what is to become of New Boyz.

Tomok explained that the band is still around and he would still be with the band.

His bandmates actually encouraged and supported him to try out for the show.

Even though both judges weren't too impressed with Tomok during the audition, he was given a pass through to the next round because both judges think that he has the talent and potential.

"Look, you definitely have the talent to do something. I think you got to figure out exactly what that something is gonna be. It's not gonna be what you were before with New Boyz, but I don't think is gonna be that busking with a guitar." – Paul Moss

After the audition, one of the show's hosts, Awal Ashaari congratulated him for advancing to the next round and thanked him for participating in the competition.

Awal also wished that through OIAM, Tomok would be able to portray a different image from what he was previously known.

In the Top 80, Tomok sang Jeritan Batin Ku for the blind test and passed.

In the Top 60 elimination round, which was the group singing round, he, Farmy, Nine, Sam, Affan, and Zack were assigned to sing M. Nasir's song, Juwita (Citra Terindah).

For the Top 40 elimination, which was a duet, Tomok chose Nor Rasfan as his duet partner and they sang Mentera Semerah Padi (M. Nasir).

While he made it to the next round, his duet partner didn't.

During the final elimination round, i.e.; Top 20, Tomok sang Carefree's Belaian Jiwa.

Syafinaz commented that the direction of which Tomok had shown during the course of the elimination round was rather confusing.

After Paul Moss delivered the judges' decision, it took a while for Tomok to realise that he was chosen to be in the Top 12.

"Syafinaz and myself have had long discussions about what we think you're doing wrong and what we think you're doing occasionally right. But our expectations are very high and we expect to see those expectations delivered in the Top 12, because you're both making it through."- Paul Moss

Tomok kicked off his campaign in the OIAM3 Top 12 by singing Faizal Tahir's Coba.

After the performance, both judges urged Tomok to prove that he deserves to be in the competition.

However, Paul Moss also commented that the dramatic knee drop that he did for the performance was vomit worthy.

After he was criticised for not making the right song choice for the Top 11 show, Tomok made his breakthrough performance in the Top 10 Week with his rendition of Beyoncé's Crazy in Love.

For the Songwriter's Week (Top 9), Tomok brilliantly executed the challenge that was set out for the week and delivered Meet Uncle Hussein's La La La Kerjalah with his own style and musical arrangement.

As he has cleverly changed the song to suit his style, he was granted Immunity for that performance.