Christina McEwan
WHO shares his prize money with a runner up? Elvis Blue, that’s who. When Elvis won Idols in 2010, he shared his bounty with L’loyd Cele because “I love L’loyd’s singing and he is an amazing performer” and also because as friends they had agreed that each would share with the other.
You can see this friendship in action when Elvis Blue and L’loyd Cele share the limelight at the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Eve at Nederburg Wine Farm, Paarl, concert on Dec 31. Elvis will also be singing at the CPO’s Holiday Pops picnic concert at the Green Point Track on December 27, the day before his 36th birthday.
There’s far more than music to this generous spirit – he has been a patron of Rosebank Union Church community-based outreach project, Rays of Hope, which focuses on child-headed households, offering them support in raising siblings in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. He has also been involved for many years with the organisation Life Community Service (LCS) in George, tutoring orphaned and disadvantaged youths in guitar and helping them with personal growth. This led to the Elvis Blue Music Academy which now operates in George. Some 60 youngsters there have benefited from his mentorship.
He is also involved in the Casterbridge Music Academy in the Lowveld, which has meant a lot to him. “The academy helps hundreds of kids weekly to develop an interest in music and the performing arts, and the impact has been tremendous as young adults get the confidence in their abilities to take charge of their own lives.”
He also pops up regularly and unannounced with his guitar at CANSA hospices across the country.
For his philanthropic work, he was awarded the CEO Magazine/ Titans – Building Nations Recognition award as Regional and Country Winner in the SA & SADC South Regions in the Arts & Culture category earlier this year.
Elvis came to fame in the tried and tested way, beginning his life as Jan Hoogendyk. Not having any formal musical training didn’t stop him from buying a guitar at the age of 16 and then learning to play it. Soon he was busking, not only in his home town of Johannesburg but in London and in cities in Scotland.
Just before Idols, he adopted his stage name, not, as you might imagine because he idolised Elvis Presley, but because of a young boy he met while volunteering at a hospice in George in 2009… even though dying from Aids, the 10-year-old Elvis Blaauw was an avid keyboard player and Jan, who had jokingly told him he had the perfect stage name for a musician, decided to honour him on his death.
Music had always been a part of his life… His mother was a music teacher and he went on to study for a degree in contemporary music focusing on the guitar and singing and song-writing at Allenby Campus in Johannesburg. He was 20.
Although the fame after winning Idols was instant, the journey was longer, and along the way he was influenced by the greats such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen and Bono, as well as local artists such as Laurika Rauch and Coenie de Villiers.
“Before Idols, I tried many things in the music industry and played to many an empty venue in my time. I recorded five albums before I went to stand in the queue at Idols, the first in 2001. Maybe before the timing just wasn’t right for me, but I’ve never done anything other than music and I always hoped my time would come.”
Indeed, his time has come. He gives some 125 performances a year (132 this year) and that’s more than one every three days, and in between his Green Point appearance and Nederburg he is performing in Jeffrey’s Bay.
In 2011, his album Elvis Blue shot to platinum in a matter of months. In the meantime, he has released three albums and 12 singles including Lighthouse, which he will sing at Nederburg and Green Point, and Shine, his latest. While many of his songs are dedicated to his wife, Chireze, and daughters Lila and Jua, Little Friend is a duet with L’loyd Cele.
His achievements are well recognised. Elvis has won more South African Music Awards (Sama) than any other Idols winner; his album Elvis Blue was named Best Adult Contemporary Album; the follow-up album, Journey, garnered three Samas in 2013 – Best Male Artist, Album of the Year and Song of the Year for Lifeline.
In 2014, his first album in his mother tongue, aptly titled Afrikaans, won the Sama for Best Afrikaans Adult Contemporary Album. It also went platinum. In fact, he has sold more than 350 000 albums and singles over the last five years.
He has toured with a host of international acts, including UB40, James Blunt and West Life. Elvis also supported Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen on their South African tours. He has won two Ghoema awards (Album of the Year and Best Male Artist) for the album Afrikaans as well as the Huisgenoot Tempo Award for Best Contemporary Album. This year he won the coveted Samro Wawela Music Award for Best Male Artist and Composer/Co-Composer .
What’s more, he has twice been voted the second hottest celebrity on the Heat Hot List, in 2013 and 2014, beating Johnny Depp the first year and being beaten both times by a woman, so he is still the hottest male. Keep an eye out for the 2015 list due out soon.
He will sing at the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s festive Holiday Pops picnic Concert on December 27 at 7.30pm with pop star Emo Adams, jazz singer Sarah Theron and classical soprano Janelle Visagie. It will be conducted by Richard Cock.
Four days later, he will head the line-up at the Nederburg wine farm in Paarl in the New Year’s eve spectacular concert with BlackByrd, L’loyd Cele and Sarah Theron. Katlego Maboe will be the host. Brandon Phillips is the conductor.
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