Taco Ockerse (born July 21, 1955 in Jakarta, Indonesia), known mononymously… Read Full Bio ↴Taco Ockerse (born July 21, 1955 in Jakarta, Indonesia), known mononymously as Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch singer. He gained international stardom when in 1982 he recorded a distinctive cover record of the old Irving Berlin favorite, Puttin' on the Ritz in Germany, which made him famous early the next year (United States Billboard chart number 4). It has been reported that he did not speak any English at all and merely read the lyrics from transliterations, but this is false: Taco speaks English and almost always performed in English. He also speaks German, having recorded a couple of songs ("Träume brauchen Zeit" and "Blauer Vogel, steig!") for German Eurovision in 1981. He is also a speaker of Dutch and French.

Taco was born to a Dutch couple in Jakarta (On a side note, Indonesia was once a Dutch colony). Prior to his worldwide hit with Puttin' on the Ritz, he fronted a Berlin-based band called Taco's Bizz. Their niche was performing Depression-era oldies in a more contemporary style, and soon Taco was courted by record labels to release a solo single. Puttin' on the Ritz gained so much attention that an entire album was funded by RCA Records. Both the album and the single were hits in Europe, and thanks to a popular MTV video for Puttin' on the Ritz, the single and the album became hits in America as well, selling over 500,000 copies of Taco's 1982 debut album After Eight.

A follow-up album, Let's Face The Music, was recorded in 1984 for RCA, but it failed to recreate Taco's initial success, and he vanished from the American market immediately thereafter. Taco continued to record, however, 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 blatantly styled after the high energy disco sound popularized by Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with Geff Harrison of Kin Ping Meh fame.

He currently resides in Germany, occasionally performing in Berlin and recording.

He has been referenced on the TV show The Simpsons. Episode BABF19, "Behind the Laughter", features Willie Nelson saying, "Thank you, Taco, for that loving tribute to Falco", as well as the end of the tribute itself. Recently, Taco was referenced in an episode of The Venture Bros. in describing Klaus Nomi's tuxedo attire.

Opera-Rap
Taco Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Taco:

After Eight After eight, a rendezvous with Kate She works late, I've had…
Carmella I found her in a dirty little cafe in an…
Cheek To Cheek Chichi con c-con con chichi chichi con c-con) (Chichi con c-…
Encore Every evening, eight o'clock The curtain's up, the band begi…
Got To Be Your Lover Got to be your lover lover Wow wow I got to…
I Should Care I should care, I should go around weeping I should care,…
La Chambre Separee Contessa, of Tridessa Frequented clubs of bad taste In disgu…
La Vie En Rose Des yeux qui font baisser les miens Un rire qui se…
Let The Music Play (What we're gonna do?) (Gonna do what?) (Hey - what we're go…

Livin in My Dreamworld Livin' in my dreamworld, memories of yesteryear Visions of G…
Mas Que Nada Ô ariá raiô Obá, Obá, Obá, Ô ariá raiô Obá, Obá, Obá M…
Night And Day Where the jungle shadows fall Like the tick tick tick…
Opera Rap In the days of old Back in old Europa People got hip…
Puttin If you're blue and you don't know where to go…
Sayonara Chartered by starlight Searchin' the oceans Land of the risi…
Singin' In The Rain (My God... You fly thousands of miles to get some…
Somewhere Over the Rainbow Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high There's a land that…
Taco's Charleston Charleston, Charleston ???.... Yes sir, that's my baby …
Thanks a Million Thanks a million, a million thanks to you For everything…
The Breaks Let's take a break and break it down I break you…
They Can't Take That Away From Me The way you wear your hat The way you sip your…
Tribute to Tino He ruled the golden silent screen He haunted millions in the…
Where Did Our Love Go Baby, baby, baby don't leave me Ooh, please don't leave me…
Winchester Cathedral Winchester Cathedral You're bringin' me down You stood there…

You Are My Lucky Star You are my lucky star I saw you from afar Two…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS