Ten years old and deaf -but does she have a voice!
WHEN Ché-Lee Nel was four years old, her parents discovered she was deaf.
But even at that age she would not let her disability smother her dreams. Today she has the kind of track record that would intimidate most A-type adults.
The Grade 5 pupil at Laerskool Rynfield in Benoni, Gauteng, is a motivational speaker, actress and singer — at the age of just 10.
In July she will fly to the US to discuss the possibility of launching her music career internationally after having caught the attention of music producer John DeGrazio, who wants to write, produce and market a single for her.
Ché-Lee impressed US actress Kim Myers when she came on a talent-scouting mission to South Africa two years ago.
And she was among a group of locals who performed at the International Talent Showcase in Orlando, Florida, in July last year, an event that draws some of the biggest record labels, agents, producers and managers in the world.
Ché-Lee couldn’t contain her exuberance as she revealed her dreams to the Sunday Times. “I’m very excited about the possibility of launching my career in America. I hope to change the world and inspire people through my music,” she said.
Ché-Lee has overcome many obstacles to be where she is today. Not least among them her own mom, Chantel Blignaut, who tried to discourage her from singing.
“We are still not sure what caused damage to her hearing,” Blignaut said.
“The audiologist told us one of the nerves that carry sound to the brain was totally dead and she couldn’t even give her a hearing aid as there was no connection between the ear drum and the brain. I knew she loved singing but I stopped her from doing it. I even took her radio and TV out of her room.”
She encouraged her daughter to do modelling to distract her from her passion for singing. “I was a paranoid mom. “Doctors warned us that loud music could further damage her remaining hearing ability on the left ear. I didn’t want to take that risk,” she said.
But Blignaut melted when she saw Ché-Lee on stage in Florida, performing the 1950s Robert Spencer hit My Boy Lollipop.
A music teacher first spotted her talent when she was in Grade 2.
South Africans will be able to see her perform next month when she launches her first album, Believe, at Carnival City.
She will share a stage with country singer Barbara Ray and Vernon Barnard, the blind singer who has stunned audiences with his voice. They will sing Ché-Lee’s song
Fight. “The song is about how you should fight for what you want in life and never give up.”