Taps Mugadza
Taps Mugadza (born Tapiwa Mugadza) is a Zimbabwean musician popularly known for being an A Academy music competition contestant (contest similar to American Idols), and more recently for his YouTube cover song of Adele's popular song "Hello". He is based in Los Angeles in the United States of America. Tapiwa Kudakwashe Mugadza was born on 14 June 1988. At just 2 days old, he was abandoned on the doorstep of an orphanage in Harare. At the the age of 8, he was moved to another orphanage called 'St Joseph's Home for Boys in Harare with 4 other boys, an event he has described as having been traumatic. The 4 other boys became his 'family' and they stuck together. One of the boys however died at the orphanage after falling sick and Taps is the one who discovered this after checking on the friend in bed when he'd not come for breakfast. Taps says he resorted to music to release himself from his pain during those days. At the age of 15, Tapiwa had his first encounter with a guitar. One day a church group came to visit the boys' home and one of the church members gave an old beat up guitar to one of his friends. It had four strings. He sang and played his guitar, and everyone began to notice. He taught himself the guitar, and formed a small singing group with other orphan boys. Within three years, Taps, was leading worship, playing guitar and piano at Celebration Church, one of the largest churches in Zimbabwe. Taps began singing gospel music at church at 15 and went on to come third in a Zimbabwean music talent competition, A Academy in 2006. The winner of the competition that year was Jonah Sithole. He joined a Christian mission group – ROCK of Africa – which helped him find sponsors to go to America in 2009 where he studied at the Musicians Institute - College of Contemporary Music in Hollywood and graduated while also being accorded the most “Outstanding Artist”. In October 2015, Taps posted a cover of Adele's runaway success song Hello on YouTube and in 5 weeks, it had hit a million views. His version was referred to as one of the best covers of the song by such publications as BuzzFeed.
Afro Pop
