Taco | |
|---|---|
 Taco at Oldie 95 Studio in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Taco Ockerse |
| Born | 21 July 1955 Jakarta, Indonesia |
| Origin | Hamburg, Germany [1] [2] [3] |
| Genres | New wave, [4] synth-pop |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | |
Taco Ockerse (born 21 July 1955), known mononymously as Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch musician [5] [6] and entertainer who started his career in Germany. [1] [2] [3]
Taco Ockerse was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 21 July 1955. [7] He spent many of his childhood years moving around the world, residing in the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany. [8]
He attended the International 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, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown ; Carousel ; The Fantasticks ; and Fiddler on the Roof .
In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg. [8] This included roles in Children's Theatre, and roles as an ensemble member of the Thalia Theatre in a number of plays, including Sweet Charity , Chicago , and Three Musketeers. He also directed and choreographed for the musical Nightchild. In 1979, he played "Chino" in John Neumeier's West Side Story at Hamburg Opera House. He founded his first band, Taco's Bizz, in 1979.
In 1981, Taco signed his first record contract with Polydor in West Germany for two record releases, whereon he released his first single, "Puttin' On the Ritz", [8] which in 1982 was issued by RCA Records for US release. The single was widely played throughout the US by late summer of 1983, eventually peaking at No. 4 in September 1983 on the Hot 100 as well as No. 1 on Cashbox . [9] [10] 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. [11] In 1983 and 1984, he toured extensively throughout Europe. 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. [12] [13] 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. [14] [15] [16] [17] The album earned Taco a number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies. [18]
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. [19] [20] [21]
He appeared as a guest on The Merv Griffin Show , Alan Thicke , Solid Gold , Good Morning America , a Bob Hope TV special, and many other TV shows while touring. [8]
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. [17] [22] Taco continued to record, focusing mostly on the German market with albums Swing Classics/In the Mood of Glenn Miller in 1985 and Tell Me That You Like It in 1986 for Polydor. In 1987 he recorded the self-titled album Taco.
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 by Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with Geff Harrison of Kin Ping Meh fame.
Between 1989 and 1996, Taco worked as an actor. He had television acting roles in Friedrichstadt Palast and Das Erbe der Guldenburgs , and an appearance in the film Karniggels . He also appeared as "Chico" in the theatre production of Marx Brothers Radio Show, and played lead roles in Shakespeare Rock n Roll in Berlin and Shakespeare as We Like It in Austria.
On 11 October 2009, the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the program Songs of the 20th Century. Taco appears with "Puttin' On the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010. [23] 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 Records Los 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. [24]
On 11 March 2011, RTL Germany broadcast The Ultimate Chartshow - the most successful Evergreens of all time, where he appeared with "Puttin' On The Ritz". [25]
On 17 March 2024, Taco mysteriously disappeared from Facebook and other social media platforms. On April 12, 2024, he re-appeared on YouTube in a video entitled "The Revelation- Where was Taco." In the video, he poses as though he were selling popcorn and had just run out, standing there in his iconic tailcoat tuxedo and white gloves, then jokes of a wild sabbatical where his company locked him "In a room full of drag queens, and made me produce a VIDEO! It's a bit crazy. I think you can handle it. It's called 'Bel Ami,' and it's out on sale! And of COURSE, you couldn't get a GLIMPSE of it on YouTube!" [26]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [27] | AUT [28] | CAN [29] | FIN [30] | GER [31] | NOR [32] | NZ [33] | SWE [34] | US [35] | ||
| After Eight | 35 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 59 | 4 | 17 | 6 | 23 | |
| Let's Face the Music |
| — | — | — | — | 58 | — | — | — | — |
| Swing Classics: In the Mood of Glenn Miller |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tell Me That You Like It |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Taco |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Puttin' On the Ritz |
|
| The Very Best Of |
|
| Best of Taco |
|
| Puttin' On the Ritz |
|
| Singin' in the Rain |
|
| Putting on the Ritz – Original Greatest Hits |
|
| Gold – The Maxi Versions |
|
| Gold – The Ultimate Best Of |
|
| Gold Rarities, Vol. 1 |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| 4 Tracks |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [27] | BE (FL) [36] | CAN [37] [38] | FIN [30] | GER [31] | NL [39] | NZ [40] | SWE [41] | UK [42] | US [43] | |||
| "Träume brauchen Zeit" | 1981 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "Keiner Gewinnt" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Puttin' On the Ritz" | 1982 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | — | 4 | After Eight |
| "Singin' in the Rain" | 1983 | — | 28 | 46 | 28 | 49 | — | — | — | 98 | — | |
| "You Are My Lucky Star" (Sweden-only release) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Let's Face the Music | |
| "Cheek to Cheek (Heaven)" | — | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | — | — | — | After Eight | |
| "Superphysical Resurrection" | — | — | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Let's Face the Music (And Dance)" | 1984 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Let's Face the Music |
| "Under My Tight Skin" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Winchester Cathedral" (New Zealand-only release) | 1985 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Let's Face the Music |
| "Heartbreak City" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Tell Me That You Like It | |
| "You're My Answer to It All" | 1986 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Got to Be Your Lover" | 1988 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "Love Touch" | 1989 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Lady of My Heart" | 1990 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Go Trabi Go soundtrack |
| "Tico Tico" | 1991 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "Timeless Love" (featuring Rozaa Wortham) | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Puttin On the Ritz 2017" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Heavy Metal" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Gold - The Ultimate Best Of |
| "Far from My Homeland" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Hot Summer Jams" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "I Wanna Dance" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Gold Rarities, Vol. 1 | |
| "Loonar Beat" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Sing, Baby, Sing" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | After Eight (Deluxe Edition) | |
| "It's Snowing In My Heart (Bad Santa)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| "Bel Ami" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||
"Puttin' On the Ritz" is a song written by Irving Berlin. He wrote it in May 1927 and first published it on December 2, 1929. It was registered as an unpublished song on August 24, 1927 and again on July 27, 1928. It was introduced by Harry Richman and chorus in the musical film Puttin' On the Ritz (1930). According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, this was the first song in film to be sung by an interracial ensemble. The title derives from the slang expression "to put on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably. This expression was inspired by the opulent Ritz Hotel in London.
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a 1982 power ballad by the group Chicago. It was written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang the lead vocals on the track, and producer David Foster. It was released on May 17, 1982, as the lead single from the album Chicago 16. On September 11 it reached No. 1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's second No. 1 single. It was their first top 50 hit since "No Tell Lover" in 1978 and it spent twelve weeks in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in September of the same year. Songwriter Cetera, a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), won an ASCAP Pop Music Award for the song in the category, Most Performed Songs.
The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. Their discography from 1961 to 1984 was originally released on the vinyl format, with the 1985 album The Beach Boys being the group's first CD release. The Beach Boys' catalogue has been released on reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassette, CD, MiniDisc, digital downloads, and various streaming services.
"Tell It Like It Is" is a song written by George Davis and Lee Diamond and originally recorded and released in 1966 by Aaron Neville. In 2010, the song was ranked No. 391 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The discography of English singer-songwriter Kate Bush consists of 10 studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, six video albums, four box sets, five extended plays, 36 singles, seven promotional singles, and 39 music videos.
The discography of German electronic band Kraftwerk consists of 10 studio albums, two live albums, one remix album and 26 singles. Formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in Düsseldorf in 1970, Kraftwerk were part of the krautrock scene. However, the group mostly found fame as pioneers of electronic music, showcasing their styles on a series of concept albums.
Four Wheel Drive is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive, released in 1975. It peaked at No. 1 in Canada on the RPM national albums chart on October 4 and again on October 18, 1975 while hitting No. 5 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart. The most popular single from the album, "Hey You," was written by Randy Bachman. It reached No. 1 in Canada, holding the top position on the RPM national singles chart for two weeks in June, 1975, and No. 21 on the U.S. charts. Some reviews stated the song was directed at Bachman's former Guess Who bandmate, Burton Cummings. "Quick Change Artist" was released as a single in Canada only, and reached No. 13 on the RPM chart.
"Montego Bay" is a song co-written and performed by Bobby Bloom about the city in Jamaica of the same name. The song was a top ten hit for Bloom in the Fall of 1970 on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 5 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart, No. 7 on the Australian Go-Set Singles Chart and No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song was co-written and produced by Jeff Barry. In the master tape of the song, Bloom breaks into a chorus of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" at the end of the recording. The song features a whistler, as well as Jamaican instruments in a calypso style.
The Bells, a.k.a. The Five Bells, were a Canadian soft rock band from Montreal, Quebec, active from 1964 to 1974. They released four albums and several singles, two of which were major hits in the early 70s, "Fly Little White Dove Fly" and especially "Stay Awhile".
The Human League has released 9 studio albums, a live album, a remix album, 13 compilations, 6 extended plays and 29 singles.
"Magic" is a song recorded by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John for the soundtrack to the 1980 musical fantasy film Xanadu. Written and produced by John Farrar, the song was released as the lead single from the album in May 1980 and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks beginning on August 2. On August 30, it was displaced from the top by Christopher Cross's "Sailing".
"Blue Eyes" is a song performed by English musician Elton John with music and lyrics written by John and Gary Osborne. It was released in 1982, as the UK lead single from John's 16th studio album, Jump Up! (1982). It was released as the album's second single in the US. It hit No. 8 in the UK; in the US, it spent three weeks at No. 10 on the Cash Box chart, went to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard AC chart. John performed this song often in his concerts until 2012.
"Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is a song written by Neil Sedaka. The song was first recorded by Sedaka and appeared as a track on his 1975 studio album, The Hungry Years. The following year the song was made popular when covered by the pop music duo Captain & Tennille, who took their version to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"My Love" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lionel Richie. It was released in 1983 as the third and final single from his self-titled debut solo album. The song features harmony backing vocals by country music singer Kenny Rogers. It reached the top 10 on three notable Billboard magazine charts in the spring of 1983: on the Billboard Hot 100 the song peaked at No. 5; on the Adult Contemporary chart, the song spent four weeks at No. 1; and on the R&B chart, the song topped out at No. 6. "My Love" was not among Richie's more successful singles in the United Kingdom, where it only managed No. 70 on the UK Singles Chart. In Canada, it peaked at No. 28 on the RPM Top 100 Singles chart.
This is the discography of American R&B singer, Joe.
"Gypsy Woman" is a 1961 rhythm and blues song written by Curtis Mayfield and recorded by his group the Impressions. The group's first single following the departure of lead singer Jerry Butler, it reached No. 2 on the US Billboard R&B chart, No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Cash Box chart. It also appeared on the group's 1963 eponymous debut album. Joe Bataan (1967), Brian Hyland (1970), Bobby Womack (1985), Steve Marriott (1989), and Santana (1990) covered this song.
"Ready to Take a Chance Again" is a 1978 international hit single performed by Barry Manilow. The song was composed by Charles Fox, with lyrics by Fox's writing partner, Norman Gimbel. Manilow conceived and supervised the song's recording in partnership with Ron Dante.
"Stand Tall" is the title of an international hit single by Burton Cummings, taken from his eponymous debut album. The song was released less than two years after "Dancin' Fool", the final hit single by the group for which Cummings had been lead singer, The Guess Who.
After Eight is the debut album by Indonesian-born Dutch singer and songwriter Taco Ockerse, mononymously known as Taco. The record, released in 1982 by RCA Records, contained his biggest hit, a synth and New Wave driven take on the Irving Berlin standard "Puttin' on the Ritz". However, in addition to six covers of classic pop songs, he co-wrote five original songs.
This is the discography of English new wave/synth-pop band Heaven 17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
