Springbok player’s wife makes the cut, along with six other acts
In tonight’s penultimate episode of The Voice SA Blind Auditions, seven acts made the cut into the four coaches’ teams in total, including Caroline-Grace Brüssow – the wife of Springbok rugby player Heinrich Brüssow – who was in the audience cheering her on! Caroline-Grace (28), an attorney from Bloemfontein, flew in for The Voice auditions all the way from Osaka, Japan, where she and Henrich live for six months of the year due to his rugby obligations there. Her powerful rendition of Céline Dion’s “Loved Me Back to Life” landed her a spot on #TeamBobby, so now it looks like rugby will have to take a back seat for her in 2017! “You’re such a small lady but with such a huge voice! Well done on pulling off such a massive song,” Bobby congratulated Caroline-Grace. This impressive talent from Bloem was the only singer to land on Bobby van Jaarsveld’s team tonight, but #TeamKahn scored big, with the Parlotones front man bagging three new acts.
The first performance that made Kahn’s ears prick up was that of the second duo of the season, known as “Symphony”. Charl Esterhuizen (20) and 27-year-old Christopher Mabasa met one fateful evening when Charl walked into a bar and saw Christopher performing “Footloose” at the karaoke. Charl started singing karaoke with Christopher that night and the rest was history! The duo has been performing ever since in and around Emalahleni, where Christopher lives with the Esterhuizens as an adopted member of their family. “South Africa needs an act like you,” Lira mused after their performance. Luckily for them, South Africa will now be treated to more from this unique brotherly duo, as their rendition of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” secured them a spot on #TeamKahn and a pass into the Battle rounds of the competition.
Kahn Morbee also bagged a big fish tonight after a brilliant performance that warranted four chair turns from all of the coaches. Craig Lucas (24) from Cape Town is a graduate in Economics and Politics at UCT, but despite a promising career ahead of him in the corporate world, Craig has always secretly loved singing. He made a promise to his mother that he would finish his degree first before starting on a road to music, and boldly took the plunge to come to The Voice SA, despite never having sung in front of so many people before. His blistering version of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” was so good that the coaches could not stop enthusing about it. “You gripped us from the first note, and just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, you just kept taking us higher and higher,” raved Lira. Despite desperate pleas from all of the coaches to join their teams, Craig ultimately chose Kahn Morbee – the first coach to turn for him at the start of his song.
The third member to be welcomed into #TeamKahn tonight was also possibly the most surprising and unusual. Christy-Lyn Marais (28) from Bergvliet in Cape Town has been playing musical instruments and singing since she was in primary school, but is a qualified Occupational Therapist who has now decided that her passion for music needs to take priority. She came to The Voice SA tonight with her harp in tow to perform the haunting ballad “Scarborough Fair” – made famous by Simon and Garfunkel. Coach Kahn instantly heard a classical quality in Christy-Lyn’s voice and turned for her. As the rest of the coaches turned after Christy-Lyn’s performance, they were all incredibly surprised to see that she was playing the harp while singing! “This is far out, girl!” Karen Zoid exclaimed when she saw Christy-Lyn’s harp on the stage, while coach Kahn told Christy-Lyn that he was thrilled to add a classical voice to his eclectic team.
Soulful songstress Lira also added two talent to her team tonight. Full-time musician and voice over artist Spha Mdlalose (28) from Cape Town has never entered a music competition before, but one would never guess that as her calm, confident, jazzy rendition of the Aretha Franklin classic “Say A Little Prayer” was enough to wow the coaches. “I want you. I HAVE to have you on my team,” Lira told a clearly elated Spha. Coach Kahn complimented Spha on the amazing tone of her voice too, but flattery could only get him so far, as Spha picked Lira to be her coach. The second talent to secure themselves a spot on Lira’s team tonight was another 28-year-old from Johannesburg. Bryce MacMillan is an audio engineer and DJ whose soulful version of Ne*Yo’s “So Sick” was good enough for Lira to press her buzzer almost immediately.
As has become tradition on The Voice SA, the final talent of the show ended the episode off with a giant bang! Samantha Leonard (24) from Kimberly came to the competition in an effort to take her singing career to the next level, and now it seems that she is well on her way to achieving this dream. Samantha’s rip-roaring rendition of Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s smash hit “Bang Bang” had all four of the coaches pressing their buzzers and getting heated amongst each other as they begged Samantha to join their teams. “Unbelievable performance, unbelievable vocal range, unbelievable everything,” Karen Zoid told her. Kahn told Samantha that the main thing that performers are there for is to entertain, and that’s exactly what she did, even when their backs were turned to her. Lira and Bobby also raved to Samantha about her performance and showmanship but Samantha had her heart set on one coach from the very beginning, and that was Karen Zoid.
With only one round of Blind Auditions to go next week before the Battle rounds commence, the coaches’ teams are almost full. Lira and Kahn both currently have 10 vocalists on their teams, Karen has nine singers in her stable and Bobby leads the pack with 11 talent, meaning that there is only one spot left in his team, as each team can only accommodate 12 singers in total!
Tune in to The Voice South Africa Season 2 every Sunday night at 17:30 on M-Net Channel 101, or catch the repeat on M-Net City Channel 115 on Monday at 18:00 to see all the buzz-worthy singing sports. Visit www.mnet.tv/thevoice to watch exclusive interviews with the coaches and talent, and follow all the breaking news and conversations around the show on Twitter @VoiceSA / #TheVoiceSA or on the official “Voice SA” Facebook page. You can also download The Voice SA app today for exclusive show-related games and special features.
