Theatre beginnings (1975–1981) In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg. Although the single eventually earned him a Gold-certification for selling over one million copies, it was Taco's only Top 40 hit in the US. In 1983 and 1984, he toured extensively throughout Europe. "Puttin' On the Ritz" topped the charts in Sweden and New Zealand, and entered the Top 5 in numerous countries including Norway, Austria, and Canada. His subsequent album,
After Eight, was released in over 40 countries and managed to reach No. 4 in Norway, No. 5 in Canada, No. 11 in Austria, No. 17 in New Zealand, No. 23 in the United States, and No. 59 in Germany. The album earned Taco a number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies. Taco's second single "
Singin' in the Rain" was a moderate success peaking at No. 49 in Germany, No. 46 in Canada, and No. 98 in the UK. He appeared as a guest on
The Merv Griffin Show,
Alan Thicke,
Solid Gold,
Good Morning America, a
Bob Hope TV special, and many other TV shows while touring. Taco continued to record, 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 styled after the high energy disco sound popularised by
Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with
Geff Harrison of
Kin Ping Meh fame.
Acting and other ventures (1989–2009) Between 1989 and 1996, Taco worked as an actor. He had television acting roles in
Friedrichstadt Palast and
Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, and an appearance in the film ''
. He also appeared as "Chico" in the theatre production of Marx Brothers Radio Show
, and played lead roles in Shakespeare Rock n Roll
in Berlin and Shakespeare as We Like It
in Austria. On 11 October 2009, the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the program Songs of the 20th Century''. Taco appears with "Puttin' On the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010. On 27 November 2009, he performed "Puttin' On the Ritz" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, he was the star guest in the "New Year's Eve Show 2009" of Russian TV, which had about 84 million viewers in more than 20 countries.
Cleopatra Records (2009–present) In July 2010,
Cleopatra Records Los Angeles released an entirely new re-recording of "Puttin' On the Ritz". Taco's vocals were recorded in Germany and the backing tracks with top studio musicians in their studio in L.A. On 1 March 2011, DingDing Music released the original song "Timeless Love" that was written and produced by Edgar Rothermich and Matthias Muentefering in the late 1980s. The studio recording that Taco performed as a duet with the singer Rozaa Wortham in Berlin was remixed in late 2010 in the U.S. and is now available for download. On 11 March 2011, RTL Germany broadcast
The Ultimate Chartshow - the most successful Evergreens of all time, where he appeared with "Puttin' On the Ritz". ==Discography==