At the age of 28, this young man has achieved much more than many of his musician counterparts. Taio Cruz’s Dynamite, part of his second album Rokstarr, is literally rocking the charts in the U.K. and also topped the charts in other countries. Speaking about his successful single, this British singer-song writer, says, “It feels good to be successful, without a doubt. To hit it big in the UK, it’s a big milestone — any musician, actor or anyone in the entertainment industry wants to say they’ve done it. It’s definitely amazing to know that that’s something I’ve done and broken records, which is just insane — I didn’t expect that at all. I’m trying to keep it contained, all the excitement.”
Born to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother, Taio began his song-writing career at the age of 18. Explains Taio, “I started playing musical instruments at school and then after that, towards the end of high school, I started using music production software and started producing my own songs, and my friends stuff, and word of mouth started to spread from my friends to their friends to various people within the music industry. That led to me writing and producing records for various people…and this was when I was about 17. I did that for quite a few years (about four or five years) flying in and out of London and America and working in the U.S. with people like Dallas Austin and Tricky, who did ‘Umbrella’ for Rihanna.”
Today, he’s not just a singer but a writer and producer too. So is it tough to don many hats? “I guess the difference between being a producer and being a performer/writer is that as a producer you can be free without any judgment…I can make ten different styles of music and no-one will say it’s weird because it’s faceless. I could make a record with Korn or Slipknot tomorrow and then the next day make a record with Britney Spears and no-one would say “what are you doing?” because you’re just a producer but when you’re in the front, people find it a bit weird if you jump genres like that. If you’re a performer you get to be on stage and you get to see the fans sing back the songs you have written in the studio so you miss that part. It’s cool to be both.”
Success is not easy in the music business and Taio says he’s happy with what he’s achieved so far. He adds, “I generally try not to let pressure get to me. I try to do what I do and not let all the ‘stuff’ that flies around it affect me too much. I just try to write good songs.”