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Biography
Born Jacob Taio Cruz to a Brazilian mother and a Nigerian father, Cruz began writing songs at the tender age of twelve. By the age of 19, he had built up such an impressive backlog of songs and such a reputation for himself that he was drafted into Tricky Stewart's writing collective RedZone Entertainment, the world-conquering team behind hits for everyone from Britney Spears to Rihanna to Sting. While many would have been satisfied to work within a team of that calibre, Cruz wanted more. His first step towards his solo career came when he co-wrote the Will Young single “Your Game”, which was a top three hit on the charts and netted Young, Cruz and Blair MacKichan a BRIT Award for Best British Single in 2005. With the income that he received from “Your Game”, he set up his own label Rokstarr Music London, and released his debut solo single “I Just Wanna Know” in 2006.
While the record wasn't an enormous hit, it did secure Cruz a record deal with Island Records and in 2008, he released his first bona-fide hit, the top five single “Come On Girl”. Ever since then, Cruz has continued to go from strength to strength, releasing his first global hit “Break Your Heart” in September 2009, which went to number one on both the U.K charts in 2009, and on the Billboard Hot 100 after its U.S release in 2010. Cruz has since released singles with Kylie Minogue, Ke$ha and Flo Rida, and has done behind the scenes work for a veritable truckload of stars, writing and producing for the likes of Lil Wayne, Jennifer Lopez and David Guetta in the meantime. Very few other artists can claim to be as on top of the world as Taio Cruz can right now, and for that, he comes highly recommended.
Live reviews
Wow, i'd never seen him live before, or really watched any live videos, so I had no idea what to expect, but Taio Cruz absolutely nailed his performance. He began his performance with Dynamite, probably his most well known song, which put the audience is a great mood, excelerating the enthusiasm beyond expectation. He then continued to play a collection of his most well known songs, interjected with the occasional new track, which actually worked incredibly well. It was really cool the way that he interacted with the audience, giving a short brief about his new songs before performing them, which made us apprechiate his concern for his fans to connect with the performance.
He only performaed about 8 songs, singing for 45 minutes, but every moment was spot on, and the amount of energy he invested in his performance made it completely understandable why the set wasn't any longer. It wasn't a problem that it was a little shorter than expected, because of the calibre of what was performed, also the support band were fab! I'd really recomend seeing him live, the atmosphere was electric as well as the musical tallent being incredible.
Despite his growing reputation and early found commercial success, UK singer/songwriter Jacob Taio Cruz is not hugely dedicated to the live demands of being an international pop/R & B singer. He rarely performs on tours and only plays a handful of appearance perhaps due to his large commitments as a producer and entrepreneur.
Whenever he does appear, he does seem to enjoy being onstage and loves the reaction garnered by the fans to his danceable music. He already has a handful of hits so keeping the energy high through a set is not much of an issue for him as he paces confidently up and down as the backing track of 'Dirty Picture' plays out. The fans cheer intently and he thanks them for the support, explaining he is currently mixing a new album which gains even more screams of delight. He closes on 'Dynamite' and has the fanbase yearning him to head out on the road far more often.
One of those artists where the forward slashes keep coming -- singer/songwriter/producer/label owner/etc. -- Taio Cruz creates futuristic, vibrant, and supremely polished music that’s split so evenly between R&B and pop that you might well call it R&P mixed with some rap. he can make every type of music come to life with his voice and performances.