Terra Cox
Terra Cox moved Unathi to tears and received the biggest hug from Somizi after his Michael Jackson performance on the Idols stage on Sunday evening.
The 28-year-old performed Will You Be There from Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album, a performance that was backed by the 2016 winners of Clash of the Choirs.
He rendered the judges speechless, while only Gareth Cliff managed to utter the words: “You’re truly unbelievable. How did we wait for so long to meet you?”
Somizi Mhlongo did his, now signature “woooo shem” gesture and Unathi Msengana could not hold back the tears.
Cox’s entrance into the competition was inspired by his late mom. He is a part-time singer and songwriter, and hopes to become a major partaker in the industry.
Twitterville was really impressed with his performance, which drew 43.8K tweets shortly after his performance, and he continued to trend right through the night.
Contestants who made it to the top 8 after over five million votes – a record for the show are Bevin Samuels, Lucia Jakeni, Noma Khumalo, Thami Shobede, Keegan Martin, Tebogo Louw, Nosihe Zulu and the man of the moment Terra Cox.
Valentine Mathe, a 20-year-old from Mamelodi, bowed out of the show after failing to bag enough votes to keep her in the running to being South Africa’s 2016 SA Idol. Meanwhile, there’s been a change of guard at Idols SA as this year’s winner will now be signed by Gallo Record Company.
This is after Universal Music, which signed most of the previous winners, withdrew from the show. In a statement Gallo Record said: “We’re pleased to officially announce a deal with 19 Recordings Inc, making it the proud label partner to the esteemed 2016 season of Idols SA.
Gallo has exclusive rights to sign contestants of the popular television competition series. The deal entails releasing singles for the Top 3 contestants and the winner is guaranteed an automatic exclusive recording deal with the label, and a guaranteed album release on CD and digital.
Universal Music’s commercial affairs and local music director Dharam Sewraj said: “Our contract ended and we’re now involved with The Voice [on M-Net] which is actually owned by Universal.”
Idols SA winners have of late enjoyed lukewarm sales and reception. – IOL/Sowetan