Singaporean pop star Taufik Batisah showed last night that he remains the one to beat at Friday night's regional Malay music awards show, Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM).
The 34-year-old singer was the biggest winner of the night, collecting four of the 19 awards given out. This is the most number of nods he has received in a year at the ceremony. Last year and in 2007 and 2008, he bagged three awards in each year.
On Friday, Taufik, the first Singapore Idol champion, took home the Most Popular Song (Singapore) and APM Most Popular Song for his catchy hit #AwakKatMane (Where Are You) as well as Most Popular Artiste (Singapore) and Social Media Icon awards. All of the awards were decided by fan votes submitted on the APM Facebook page.
Other Singapore singers and bands faired well too in the 14th edition of the awards show.
Punk-rock band Iman's League, a first-time nominee, won Best Band and Best Song (Singapore) for their head-banging track Lisa, which featured fellow local pop-rock band The Lion Story.
Another former Singapore Idol winner, Sezairi, bagged the Best Collaboration (Song) award.
The show also paid tribute to A. Ramlie and The Rhythm Boys, an iconic Singaporean band in the 1960s during the Pop Yeh Yeh era. They received the Planet Music Special Award.
The awards show was jointly organised by the MediaCorp's Malay Broadcast Division, Suria, radio stations Warna 94.2FM and RIA 89.7FM, and entertainment and lifestyle magazine Manja.
Other big winners included Indonesian singers Judika and Raisa, who took the top prizes for Best Male and Female Artistes, respectively.
Four thousand fans attended the event held at Suntec Singapore.
