Into Taio's heart

There was a time when Taio Cruz thought that making his name in the pop world was going to be a breeze. That was five years ago, when he gave one of his songs, Your Game, to Will Young and then sat back and watched as it climbed the charts, eventually winning a Brit Award as the best single of 2004.

London-born Cruz was taken aback by the unexpected success. He had originally penned the song, a funky pop number, for himself and was surprised when Young showed an interest.

But the singer, songwriter and producer, now 26, soon came back down to earth. His own career proved slow to get off the ground, and his first solo album, Departure, didn't emerge until last year. And even then, despite respectable sales, it failed to establish him as a major star.

The story this year has been very different, with Cruz emerging as one of pop's hottest properties. A hit-maker with the Midas touch, his fingerprints are all over some of the biggest and best British records of the past 12 months. As a solo artist, he topped the charts in September with Break Your Heart. As a songwriter, he came up with Never Leave You, a No 1 for Tinchy Stryder and Amelle Berrabah, while he has also worked with Cheryl Cole and JLS.

What took him so long? Cruz says he was happy to move at his own pace. "The success of Your Game took me by surprise, as I'd only just left college and was trying to get into the music industry," he says. "That was the first song I'd co-written and it was a huge hit. When it won a Brit, I thought I was on a roll. But these things take time."

The boarding school-educated son of a Nigerian businessman father and Brazilian mother, the singer put the next five years to good use, forging a sound that, on his new album, Rokstarr, is an eclectic mix of modern R&B and electronic dance.

On a couple of tracks, he even ventures towards the tuneful softrock of Snow Patrol and Coldplay.

"Because I'm black, people put me in an R&B box," he says. "My first album had a lot of R&B influences because I wanted to release it in America first. But with the new one, I tried to write songs that would connect in the UK."

Although the video for Break Your Heart showed Cruz cavorting with bikini-clad supermodels on a powerboat, he tends to avoid the bling and bravado that is usually associated with the R&B world.

Polite and well-spoken, he says he was a withdrawn child who would often retreat to his bedroom. And when he was at boarding school, he spent much of his time alone in the music block. "I was shy," he says. "Because my dad was away on business a lot, I was brought up in a household full of women. My mum's sisters were always around and they could be quite overbearing. I used to hide away in my room.

"Generally, I'm the kind of guy who stays at home with his girlfriend watching TV.

"But, for that video, I thought it would be fun to get some girls in bikinis and be a bit cocky for once. I can sometimes be that guy. If I'm on holiday, it's the sort of thing I might do."

Missing out

After getting good A-levels in maths, business and media studies, Cruz studied entertainment law at college before one of his teenage demo tapes found its way to New York's Def Jam label.

Years later, on a return trip to New York, he was given a sneak preview of a song, Umbrella, that became one of the biggest hits of the decade. Although the track was eventually sung by Rihanna, there was talk of it being a Taio Cruz single.

Missing out on Umbrella hasn't hurt Cruz too much. As well as solo fame, he continues to make his mark as a songwriter and producer.

Stand Up, one of the best tracks on Cheryl Cole's solo album, is a Cruz composition, while Simon Cowell has also sought his help with Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward. "Cheryl could have had Break Your Heart, but her people didn't get back to me quickly enough," says Taio. "By the time they said yes, I'd done my own version and it was getting radio play.

"Luckily, they also loved Stand Up, so we got Cheryl into a studio and worked on that."

Cruz says he expects next year to be even busier. With a new single imminent, he hopes to tour next summer while also marketing his own, Rokstarr-branded line of sunglasses.

"Because of the internet, CDs aren't selling as many copies as they used to, so artists are branching into other areas," he says. "At least you can't download a pair of sunglasses."