chiu_pat

Monday March 28 2005
SCMP

Taiwanese singer David Tao Zee has big plans for his future, and
they don't all include music, writes Paggie Leung

Popular Taiwanese singer and songwriter David Tao Zee hates labels -
especially those attached to him. Talk of him being Asia's king of
R&B makes him shudder.

'I'm not a king or godfather of R&B,' says Tao, 35, who was making a
name for himself incorporating western R&B in Mando-pop long before
today's Taiwan prince of R&B, Jay Chou Jie-lun, burst on to the
scene.

'I'm flattered by the title,' Tao says, putting his right hand on
his chest and taking a slight bow. 'But labelling is a false sense
of identity. In Chinese society, a lot of people like to call
others 'teacher' or 'master'. I don't like people calling me that.
We shouldn't use labels.'

Minutes earlier, Tao had arrived for our interview at Hunghom's
Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel, hands in his pockets, quietly
crooning to himself. Dressed in black leather shoes, blue jeans and
half buttoned-up oatmeal coloured shirt, he's the epitome of cool -
another label he would undoubtedly reject.

Four days into a five-day promotion tour of Hong Kong for his latest
album, The Great Leap Forward 2005, which hit stores in late January
and has already sold 900,000 copies throughout Southeast Asia, Tao
is showing no sign of tiredness as he talks enthusiastically about
his music.

The album marks the end of a two-year hiatus for Tao after his Black
Tangerine hit in 2002. The new album encompasses a wide variety of
musical styles including rock, jazz and folk, which further explains
why Tao doesn't want to be labelled as an R&B singer.

'My music is not all R&B. I don't know why the media call me the
godfather of R&B. Maybe it's because R&B became hip in Taiwan in the
late 90s when I came out,' says Tao, alternating between fluent
Putonghua, Cantonese and English.

'Actually, my roots are rock. When I was in high school [in the US],
I had long hair and was into rock. I was anti-R&B and anti-rap. It
was immaturity. I was so into rock that I hate all other types of
music ... When I got older, probably after the age of 20, I listened
to more soul, more blues and more classic R&B.'

Tao has recently been appearing more in magazines and commercials -
something he seldom touched in previous years. Before his visit to
Hong Kong this month, he was in Thailand filming a commercial for a
soft drink.

'The market is changing and I have to change, too,' Tao says. 'Doing
an endorsement is an important way for artists to get exposure.
Compared with other artists, I've done only a fifth or a quarter of
what they've done. It's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't
compromise my music. Some people may be surprised when seeing me [in
adverts], but a bigger group of people will love to see that - they
can see more of me, the side of me that is not serious or stern and
not a godfather of R&B, but a side of me that is fun and childlike.'

Tao migrated to Taiwan from Hong Kong at the age of three. His
father, Tao Da-wei, is a veteran TV show host and musician, while
his mother is a Peking opera singer. Tao went to school in Los
Angeles when he was 15 and went on to study psychology and film at
the University of California in

Los Angeles.

He entered the music industry by chance - he was spotted by
Taiwanese music producer Bing Wang when he was working in a music
store in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. In 1993, Tao returned to
Taiwan to launch his music career.

But there's another career Tao wants to try. The singer-songwriter
says his ambition is to try his luck in movies. 'I want to direct a
film before I'm 40 and I've started writing something. Film is
something I want to actively pursue,' Tao says.

He wants to write stories about 'everything and anything', but to
convey a message, as he aims to do with his songs. 'Music just
happened by chance. I studied film at university. But at the moment
I'll focus on music. I'm career-oriented so I won't turn to movies
until I reach a certain position in music.'

Having spent more than seven years in the music industry,
successfully mixing and matching western R&B and Mando-pop basics,
he's often compared with Jay Chou and Wang Lee-hom - the two other
leading singer-songwriters famous for blending Chinese and western
contrasting musical genres in Taiwan.

'I sometimes wonder if Jay and Lee-hom would be asked the same
question,' Tao says, laughing. 'I don't mind [the comparison]
because I like [Jay and Lee-hom].'

Tao is planning a series of concerts across Asia this summer,
kicking off on the mainland, followed by dates in Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia. He's also planning to release another album
at the end of the year, although he's yet to start work on it.

But he has no plans to record in another language. 'Cantonese is not
my native language and I'd be self-conscious singing in Cantonese,'
he says.

'People are used to me singing in Putonghua. I don't want to become
gimmicky.'