Taufik Batisah won the Singapore Idol in the year 2004. His first album is titled Blessings. Muhammad Taufik Bin Batisah, (born December 10, 1981) is the winner of the first season of the reality TV series Singapore Idol. He is a Singaporean of mixed Bugis and Indian descent [1]. He had attended Boon Lay Primary School, Jurong Secondary School and is a graduate of the Singapore Polytechnic. He first started out as a singer in a local group called Bonafide playing a mixture of hip-hop and R&B with fellow rapper, Mark Bonafide. He secured one of the highest numbers of votes in his group in the Piano Show segment of the show and got into the Top 12 of the Singapore Idol. Week after week, he wowed viewers with his voice and consistently good performances. However, it was during the R & B week that Taufik really stood out and Singaporeans began taking notice of this down-to-earth and gifted young singer. His increasing fan base helped him progress smoothly through the competition, safely avoiding elimination each week. On 1 December 2004, Taufik was crowned the Singapore Idol at the Singapore Indoor Stadium before an audience of more than 8,000 fans and 1.8 million viewers across the country. He scored a recording deal with Sony BMG and a management deal under Hype Records' artiste management arm, ArtisteNetworks. It was later revealed that Taufik had won 682,000 of the 1.1 million votes cast that night, while his opponent Sylvester Sim managed 418,000 votes. This meant Taufik had managed to garner an astounding 62% of the votes, a solid 24% more than Sim. Soon after his win, endorsements started flowing in and Taufik clinched a string of lucrative endorsements for brands such as Harmuni Rice, Samsung, 7-Eleven stores and HSC drinks. He even became the first Singapore artiste to endorse for the Swiss watch-maker, Swatch. He received further recognition at the Anugerah Planet Muzik 07. As well as being voted the Most Popular Singapore Artiste, his single Usah Lepaskan (Don't Let Go) won the awards for being the Most Popular Singapore Song and the Best Singapore Song. Usah Lepaskan was the Number 1 Song of the Year on RIA 89.7FM, while another single Sesuatu Janji(A Certain Promise) took on the 3rd position In 2007, Taufik finally knocked down the showbiz wall of Malaysia with the release of his first ever Malaysian album titled, Teman Istimewa (Special Friend). This was also his first ever album to be sold only in Malaysia. This album was released on 5 September 2007 and was the album long-awaited by the Malaysian Fiknatics (as his fans are called). According to the publicity, 90% of the album was produced by Taufik himself. Three of the songs on this album are the Malay version of his earlier English songs First, Holding On and I Promise Forever. Seribu Tahun (A Thousand Years), a song which he co-wrote, swept the Malaysian radio charts after it became the theme song for Malaysia's Channel TV3 hit drama series, Kerana Cintaku Saerah (Because Of My Love Saerah). The year 2008 marked another good year for Taufik as he continued his reign as one of the country’s biggest stars. He was able to bag the biggest win at Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008 with the Most Popular Artiste (Singapore) Award and Most Popular Song (Singapore) Award for his composition Berserah (Surrender) as well as the Best Singapore Artiste Award. He was also been conferred a national honor when he received the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture). This highest youth accolade in Singapore awarded by the National Youth Council was in recognition of his achievements in the music industry and for being a role model to the younger generation. Meanwhile, Taufik’s music compositions also received greater recognition as Berserah took the No. 1 spot for Song of the Year and Teman Istimewa took 5th place on the RIA 89.7FM radio station's 2008 Top 30 Countdown. 2008 also saw the birth of Taufik's fourth music album Suria Hatiku (Light of My Heart) . This critically acclaimed Malay album showcases a wide variety of songs of different genres. It also brings in a new excitement as Taufik explores his compositions with a newfound maturity. The album also bridges vibrant music collaborations hardly seen in the industry with a stellar participation from his mentor, Ken Lim, renowned music producer, M. Nasir, and singer, Hady Mirza.
