Pete Teo

Biography

Pete Teo (simplified Chinese: 张子夫, traditional Chinese: 張子夫, born 1972 in Sabah), is an English language singer-songwriter from Malaysia. He has released two albums - Rustic Living for Urbanites (2003 / produced by Ronan Chris Murphy) and Television (2006 / produced by Nick Lee & Pete Teo) on his own label Redbag Music. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Pete Teo is currently the most visible and popular independent singer-songwriter in Malaysia. He is also sought after as actor in what has become kno...

Pete Teo (simplified Chinese: 张子夫, traditional Chinese: 張子夫, born 1972 in Sabah), is an English language singer-songwriter from Malaysia. He has released two albums - Rustic Living for Urbanites (2003 / produced by Ronan Chris Murphy) and Television (2006 / produced by Nick Lee & Pete Teo) on his own label Redbag Music. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Pete Teo is currently the most visible and popular independent singer-songwriter in Malaysia. He is also sought after as actor in what has become known as 'New Wave Malaysian Cinema'.

His debut solo album Rustic Living For Urbanites won the Best Music Video and Best Album Cover category at the Anugerah Industri Muzik Malaysia (AIM - Malaysian Music Industry Awards) 2004. His second album Television - an alternative folk music album filled with reflections on a media saturated world and Americana - won all 3 categories it was nominated for at AIM 2007 - Best Album Cover, Best Music Video and Best English Album - where he emerged as the biggest winner of the night, the first non-mainstream indie artist to do so in the history of the awards. "Television" subsequently became the first Malaysian record to be licensed and released in South Korea. He was also the first ever Malaysian artiste to play at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin Texas in 2007.

In April 2008, Teo independently produced a zero-budget, non-partisan, non-profit, multi-artistes recording of his anti-racism composition 'Here In My Home'. Entitled 'Malaysian Artistes For Unity', the project attracted pro bono participation from over 50 Malaysian artistes, media personalities and arts activists - including Ning Baizura, Awie, Adflin Shauki, Jason Lo, Maya Karin, Tony Fernandes, Jacklyn Victor etc.. The music video for the song, directed by Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yuhang premiered at the Malaysian Music Industry Awards 2008 to a nationwide television audience. In the weeks subsequent to its release, the video became one of most viralled videos in the world - reaching as high as no.3. Both the song and the video are available for free download on the project's official website.

In May 2008, Teo reinforced his reputation as an artiste at the forefront of the Malaysian new wave by producing 4 definitive and retrospective music videos for legendary Malaysian band Alleycats. Directed by installation artist and regular collaborator Kamal Sabran, these Universal Music commissioned videos were completed within 3 weeks, and were included in the 2008 box set release of the band's classic hits.

Teo tours Japan and South Korea regularly. In August 2008, he played to millions over Korean nationwide TV on Yoon Do Hyun's 'Love Letter' [KBS] and 'EBS Space' [EBS] - two of the most popular music programs in Korea. This was followed by a showcase appearance at the Tokyo Asia Music Market in October 2008 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.