Top dog is not the only winner
MISSING out on the top spot on Idols SA doesn’t mean the end of a career in music. Many contestants who didn’t win have gone on to be successful in entertainment. Bianca Johnson (née Le Grange) has released four albums since she took part in the show in 2002. She is now in musical theatre, earning a Naledi Award for best performance in a musical for her debut performance in David Kramer’s Blood Brothers in 2014. “It’s been 14 years since I was in Idols. Everyone still remembers me as the blonde girl with red lips but I have done so much since then,” she said this week. “Music is still a big part of my life; it’s what I want and love.” The second season of the show produced Anke Pietrangeli as a winner but it was top 10 contestant Zamajobe Sithole who shone when she released her first album, Ndawo Yami, in 2004. It achieved gold status locally and was nominated for four South African Music Awards (Samas) in 2005 and for best African act at the MTV Europe Music Awards that year.
“I have had two other albums, Ndoni Yamanzi and Thula Mntwana, and [recently] I performed hits from my latest album — I don’t have a name for it yet — which I will release a single for in January,” Sithole said.
Lloyd Cele, who was runner-up to Elvis Blue in 2010, released his debut album, One, for which he won a Best Pop Album Sama, and a second called No Limits, which scored him nominations at the Channel O Awards, Metro FM Awards, as well as three Sama nominations.
He is also a radio presenter with his own show on KwaZulu-Natal regional station Vuma FM.
Shekhinah Donnell placed in the top 10 in the 2012 show, but last week graduated from AFDA with a BA in live performance. She and fellow contestant Kyle Deutsch — who was in the top 10 in 2014 when Vincent Bones won — collaborated in the smash hit Back to the Beach. The song scooped an MTV Africa Music Award last month for best pop and alternative album.
Donnell has since been featured in a hit track, Your Eyes, with BET Award winner DJ Black Coffee.