Taufik 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 Subramaniam whose stage name is Mark Bonafide. Taufik participated in the first season of the reality TV series
Singapore Idol, part of the
Idol franchise based on the British show
Pop Idol. in 2004. On 1 December 2004, Taufik became the first 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. Following his win, Taufik clinched a string of endorsements for brands such as Harmuni Rice,
Samsung,
7-Eleven stores and HSC drinks. He was the first Singapore artiste to endorse for the Swiss watch-maker,
Swatch. He was also the face of the "fresh air for women" campaign in Singapore. This was aimed at reducing smoking in Singapore. However it was shortly pulled due to a member of public documenting pictures of him smoking. On 14 January 2005, Taufik released his first English album
Blessings. The album included Taufik's hits from the competition such as
Me and Mrs Jones, ''Let's Stay Together
, Superstition
as well as the Idol winning song I Dream
. Taufik also co-wrote one track on the album titled Close 2 You
. Blessings'' went on to a smashing sale of 36,000 copies, making into the Singapore Guinness Book of Records as the best selling local English album in the past decade. It remains a record unbroken in the Singapore music industry. On 19 April 2005, Taufik held his first solo concert showcase
An Evening With Taufik at the Kallang Theatre. Fresh from recovering from tonsillitis (resulted from a non-stop four months performing schedule), he charmed both the media and full-house audience with his soulful singing and smooth on-stage moves. In 2006, Taufik released his second album
All Because of You where he wrote and produced eight of the tracks. The English-Malay album spurred off a string of hits and further opened doors to the Malay music industry. Title track
All Because of You made its debut that the finals of the second season of Singapore Idol. The three Malay singles on the album
Usah Lepaskan,
Sesuatu Janji and
Sombong took the Malay music industry by storm. He was named the Most Sellable Artiste at MediaCorp Suria's People's Choice Awards and was also awarded the Most Popular Male Artiste Award at the regional
Anugerah Planet Muzik 2006. Winning Favourite Artist Singapore at the 2006 MTV Asia Awards further elevated Taufik's career to further heights. An iconic role model, Taufik was also voted as the Winner of Kid's Choice Wannabe Award (Singapore) at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award 2006. Taufik continued to shine as the top artiste in Singapore, garnering the Most Popular Male Personality Award at Suria's Annual TV awards, Pesta Perdana 2007, the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Wannabe Award (Singapore) for the second consecutive year, and also the Most Popular Artiste (Singapore) Award, Most Popular Song –
Usah Lepaskan (Singapore) Award and the Best Local Song –
Usah Lepaskan(Singer/Composer/Lyricist) Award at the
Anugerah Planet Muzik 2007.
Usah Lepaskan was also the Number 1 Song of the Year on
Ria 89.7FM. In 2007, he debuted his Malaysian album titled,
Teman Istimewa (Special Friend) on 5 September and was the album long-awaited by the Malaysian
Fiknatics (as his fans are called). Taufik produced 90% of this album and three songs are the Malay version of his earlier English songs
Untukmu (
First),
Berserah (
Holding On) and
Janjiku Padamu (
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). In 2008, Taufik won 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 at
Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008. He also received the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture), awarded by the National Youth Council, 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. Taufik also launched his fourth music album
Suria Hatiku (Light of My Heart). This critically acclaimed Malay album showcased a wide variety of songs of different genres and had spurned multiple Number No. 1 hits such as
Gadis Itu (That Girl),
Nafasku (My Breathe),
Hey and
Kepadanya (For Him). The album also featured music collaborations between his mentor,
Ken Lim, renowned music producer,
M. Nasir, and singer,
Hady Mirza. Taufik was named the Most Popular Singapore Artiste for the third consecutive year at the
Anugerah Planet Muzik Award 2009. His composition
Usah Lepaskan was awarded the top Malay song with the highest royalties by COMPASS. Taufik also performed at the Angureah Planet Muzik Award held in
Jakarta and the
Singapore Day 2009 event in London. He was also invited to represent Singapore to perform at the
ASEAN – Korea Commemorative Summit in
Korea and performed at
APEC Singapore 2009's "Singapore Evening at The Esplanade". The year 2010 proved to be an exuberant start for Taufik. Besides fronting the finale performance at the Chingay Parade 2010 and performing for the second consecutive time in Seoul under the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea as well as Singapore's NAC, he continued to receive recognition for his music. He earned the top honour roll of six major awards at the first AnugeraHitz.sg Awards, which honoured the best in the local Malay music industry. The year also saw him diversifying his art and making his theatrical debut in Dick Lee's
Fried Rice Paradise – The Musical. In 2011, he was part of the "Home" video project under Total Defence Campaign and also fronted the "WeAreOne" fund raising project for the Japan tsunami. He also released an
Eid ul-Fitr collaboration album
Kenangan Di Hari Raya (Memories on Eid) with Hady Mirza. In August of that year, he represented Singapore and performed with the Asia Traditional Orchestra for Korea's Independence Day in Seoul. He also wrote and recorded a duet single
Aku Bersahaja (Simply Me) with Indonesian diva
Rossa. The pair debuted the single at Rossa's "Harmoni Cinta" Concert at Esplanade.
Aku Bersahaja was released in Singapore and Malaysia and to date, is his eighth Malay No. 1 radio chart topper. For his achievements in the local music scene, he was honoured with the Yahoo! "Singapore Most Influential Person in Entertainment 2011". In 2012, his hit ballad 'Usah Lepaskan' was also voted the Most Iconic Song in 55 years of Malay music in Singapore. July of that year saw his return to the English music scene with a new single ''Sky's The Limit'' which featured the voice of popular singer-actress Rui En. ''Sky's The Limit'' hit the No. 1 position on 98.7 FM Top 20 Countdown Chart for two consecutive weeks on 7 and 14 September, a rare feat for a local song as the Chart is usually dominated by international acts. Taufik represented Singapore at the first
ABU TV Song Festival 2012 at the
KBS Concert Hall, in
Seoul,
South Korea on 14 October 2012. He performed his multi-award-winning composition -
Usah Lepaskan at the international gala music concert alongside high-profile music talents from across the region, including TVXQ (Korea), Havana Brown (Australia), Hafiz Suip (Malaysia) and Perfume (Japan).
Aku Bersahaja with Rossa was nominated for "Lagu Bahasa Melayu Terbaik yang Dipersembahkan oleh Artis Luar Negara" (Best Malay Song performance By A Foreign Artist) at the upcoming Malaysia's annual music award – Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) 19, and also for "Kolaborasi Terbaik" (Best Collaboration) in Singapore's Malay regional music
Anugerah Planet Muzik. Taufik also rose in the ranks of the regional and international music scene when he received significant recognition from Korea's Mnet Asia Music Awards (MAMA) for Best Asian Artist (Singapore) as well as
Anugerah Planet Muzik's Best Collaboration (for
Aku Bersahaja), Most Popular Singapore Artiste and Most Popular Regional Artiste. On 1 October 2014, Taufik released his fifth studio album,
Fique, which he produced, arranged and wrote all but one song.
Fique features duets with Malay rapper Altimet, singer
Shila Amzah and his aunt, Maria Bachok. Reviewing
Fique in
The Straits Times, Eddino Abdul Hadi awarded the album four out of five stars and wrote that it was "not so much Taufik, 32, reinventing himself as it is him taking the best parts of his past and moulding them into one cohesive work...a solid collection of songs."
TODAYs Kenneth Choy awarded
Fique four out of five, calling the album "[e]xpressive, emotive and energetic" plus "truly a good comeback effort with just about the right mix of material that will appeal to new and current fans alike." At the
Anugerah Planet Muzik 2014, Taufik won three awards: Most Popular Song (Singapore), Most Popular Artist and Social Media Icon, winning the most awards by any artist that year. Taufik also performed three songs, including his new single, '#AwakKatMane' (Where Are You), off his recent album,
Fique. In 2018, Taufik represented Singapore at the ASEAN-JAPAN Music Festival in Tokyo, performing alongside Dato Sri Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia), W-inds (Japan), Sarah Geronimo (Philippines), Andien (Indonesia) and Dong Nhi (Vietnam). In 2019, Taufik performs the National Day Parade 2019 theme song "Our Singapore", alongside Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Ramli Sarip, Dick Lee, Kit Chan, Sam Willows and an inter-generation cast. On 25 October 2025, Taufik made his debut major headlining concert, "Taufik Batisah: One Last Dance", which was to be his last concert as well. The concert held at
The Star Theatre was sold out and
Afgan and
Rossa appeared as guest singers. ==Personal life==