Taco (musician)

Taco Ockerse(born 21 July 1955), knownmononymouslyasTaco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch musicianand entertainer who started his career in Germany.He scored a global hit song in 1982 with a version of "Puttin' on the Ritz".
Taco Ockerse was born inJakarta,Indonesia, on 21 July 1955.He spent many of his childhood years moving around the world, residing in theNetherlands, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany.
He attended theInternational School of Brussels, Belgium, and graduated in 1973. Afterwards, he studied interior decoration and finished acting school in Hamburg. He held lead roles in numerous school productions, includingYou're a Good Man, Charlie Brown;Carousel;The Fantasticks; andFiddler on the Roof.
In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg.This included roles inChildren's Theatre, and roles as an ensemble member of the Thalia Theatre in a number of plays, includingSweet Charity,Chicago, andThree Musketeers. He also directed and choreographed for the musicalNightchild. In 1979, he played "Chino" in John Neumeier'sWest Side Storyat Hamburg Opera House. He founded his first band, Taco's Bizz, in 1979.
In 1981, Taco signed his first record contract withPolydorin West Germany for two record releases, whereon he released his first single, "Puttin' On the Ritz",which in 1982 was issued byRCA Recordsfor US release. The single was widely played throughout the US by late summer of 1983, eventually peaking at No. 4 in September 1983 on theHot 100as well as No. 1 onCashbox.Although the single eventually earned him a Gold-certification for selling over one million copies, it was Taco's only Top 40 hit in the US.In 1983 and 1984, he toured extensively throughoutEurope. While the single "Puttin' on the Ritz" topped the charts in Sweden and New Zealand, it entered the Top 5 in numerous countries including Norway, Austria, and Canada.His subsequent album,After Eight, was released in over 40 countries and managed to reach No. 4 in Norway, No. 5 in Canada, No. 11 in Austria, No. 17 in New Zealand, No. 23 in the United States, and No. 59 in Germany.The album earned Taco a number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies.
Taco's second single "Singing in the Rain" was a moderate success peaking at No. 49 in Germany, No. 46 in Canada, and No. 98 in the UK.
He appeared as a guest onThe Merv Griffin Show,Alan Thicke,Solid Gold,Good Morning America, aBob Hope TV special, and many other TV shows while touring.
Taco's follow-up album,Let's Face the Music, was recorded in 1984 for Polydor, which peaked at No. 58 in his home of West Germany and managed to enter the Top 100 in Canada peaking at No. 92.Taco continued to record, focusing mostly on the German market with albumsSwing Classics/In the Mood of Glenn Millerin 1985 andTell Me That You Like Itin 1986 forPolydor. In 1987 he recorded the self-titled albumTaco.
In 1989, he briefly flirted with contemporary dance music by releasing a pair of singles, "Love Touch" and "Got to Be Your Lover", that were styled after the high energy disco sound popularised byStock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated withGeff HarrisonofKin Ping Mehfame.
Between 1989 and 1996, Taco worked as an actor. He had television acting roles inFriedrichstadt PalastandDas Erbe der Guldenburgs, and an appearance in the filmKarniggels[de]. He also appeared as "Chico" in the theatre production ofMarx Brothers Radio Show, and played lead roles inShakespeare Rock n Rollin Berlin andShakespeare as We Like Itin Austria.
On 11 October 2009, the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the programSongs of the 20th Century. Taco appears with "Puttin' On the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010.On 27 November 2009 he performed "Puttin' On the Ritz" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, he was the star guest in the "New Year's Eve Show 2009" of Russian TV, which had about 84 million viewers in more than 20 countries.
In July 2010,Cleopatra RecordsLos Angeles released an entirely new re-recording of "Puttin' On the Ritz". Taco's vocals were recorded in Germany and the backing tracks with top studio musicians in their studio in L.A. On 1 March 2011, DingDing Music released the original song "Timeless Love" that was written and produced by Edgar Rothermich and Matthias Muentefering in the late 1980s. The studio recording that Taco performed as a duet with the singer Rozaa Wortham in Berlin was remixed in late 2010 in the U.S. and is now available for download.
On 11 March 2011, RTL Germany broadcastThe Ultimate Chartshow - the most successful Evergreens of all time, where he appeared with "Puttin' On The Ritz".