Taio Cruz born Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere; 23 April 1983) is a British singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and music producer.
Cruz was born in London, England, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother. He attended Christ's Hospital in West Sussex. He is also the founder and C.E.O. of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single I Just Wanna Know. Also in 2006, he signed a joint-venture partnership deal with Universal Music Group Companies, US-based Republic Records and the UK branch of Island Records. In the UK, Cruz has worked with artists including Pedro Cruz, Omar, Tinchy Stryder, and Will Young. He is most notable for singing "Break your Heart."
In 2008, after years of writing songs for other artists including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Pussycat Dolls he released his debut album Departure. Written, arranged and produced himself, it achieved initial success in the UK and earned him a MOBO Award nomination. In October 2009, he released his follow up album Rokstarr in the UK, which failed to chart as well as his debut but eventually sold more copies. It included his UK and US number one single "Break Your Heart". In March 2010 he released "Break Your Heart" as his debut US single
Cruz was featured on Tinchy Stryder's breakout single "Take Me Back" which peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. According to Cruz's official MySpace blog, as of 1 January 2009, Rokstarr Music London officially changed its name to Rokstarr Entertainment Division and abbreviated to R.E.D Inc. Cruz also modified his US deal by leaving Republic Records, instead opting for a signing with Island Def Jam Music Group's Mercury Records.
Since then he has been working on his follow up album originally titled T.W.O. (This Way Out) but later changed to Rokstarr. It was released on 12 October 2009 through R.E.D Inc/Island Records and Is entirely written and produced by Cruz, with co-writes and co-productions predominantly with UK producer Fraser T Smith. The album's lead single "Break Your Heart" was released on 14 September 2009 and reached number 1 in the UK where it stayed for 8 weeks. The single spent 6 weeks in the top 10. It also reached the top spot in the U.S. for one week according to the Billboard. Cruz has worked on Tinchy Stryder's album. He also wrote a song on Cheryl Coles album 3 Words He has also contributed to JLS's self-titled album.
On 1 September 2009, the brand Rokstarr which is closely associated with Cruz, launched. The fashion and accessories brand has a focus on sunglasses. Musicians such as Kanye West, Shontelle, Keri Hilson and Kelly Rowland all have been seen wearing a pair. Speaking in October 2009 to R&B writer Pete Lewis, Cruz stated: "There's a load of US celebrities that are all rocking the sunglasses already – Kid Cudi, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West... Then in the UK we have The Saturdays, JLS, Daniel Merriweather – who've all been twittering and writing on their blogs how much they love them. So yeah, it's definitely my new album 'Rokstarr' and the fashion brand that are my two main focuses at the moment.
Meanwhile, speaking again to Pete Lewis, in April 2010 Taio revealed: "We're currently looking to expand the brand and possibly go into things like watches. I've also got a new subsidiary of Rokstarr called 'Rok By Rokstarr'. And we've just started doing things like jeans and T-shirts, and stuff that more of the fans of Taio Cruz can buy. Because with Rokstarr in itself being so expensive, a lot of the kids out there who want to buy Rokstarr things can't. So we're bringing in stuff that's a little bit more High Street and more affordable."[9]
Taio Cruz has writen/produced songs for many artists such as Usher, Leona Lewis, Sugababes, Cheryl Cole, Ke$ha, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Pussycat Dolls, Kylie Minogue, and Alexandra Burke. He also writes and produces all of his own work including his number 1 hit Break Your Heart'.
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