DURBAN'S Lloyd Cele is breathing a sigh of relief after surviving another week in the popular Idols Season 6 competition.
Tuesday night saw 25-year-old Gail Nkoane from Kimberley become the first Top 10 contestant to be sent home by Idols voters, leaving Cele, a self-confessed family man, to woo judges and voters for yet another week.
The KwaMashu-born singer and pastor has reached the Top 10 of M-Net's popular Idols Season 6.
His first admission, although thrilled to have made it to the Top 10, is that he is missing his "little one".
Cele, one of only two married contestants on the show, is the father of a bubbly 16-month-old baby boy, Levi Josh.
He said reaching top of the pop music competition had left him in a quandary.
"I'm in this competition for my family and to give my son a better life and the longer I stay in, the better the chances of my getting to win," he said yesterday.
"But also, the longer I stay in the competition, the longer I am away from my wife Janice and son Levi Josh."
Cele moved from KwaMashu at the age of 10 with his mother and grandmother to the Durban township of Phoenix, a predominantly apartheid-era Indian area.
"We lived in one of the most notorious areas in Phoenix, Unit 2, one that has one of the biggest shebeens and drug dens in the Durban area. I became influenced by the gangsters who ran these places."
Cele said it was when he made his way to church that he was able to untangle himself from the shocking lifestyle that had become his.
From as young as he can remember, he has always been singing. He started writing music in his teens.
"Playing instruments came very late as there were no musicians in my family," he said.
"Church was my first exposure to instruments and I started taking a liking to the guitar at the age of 20. When I bought myself a guitar I had no knowledge of how to play it. I taught myself."
And while he may have moved to an area where English was the dominant language, Cele said he never strays too far from his roots, and engages regularly in his mother tongue, isiZulu.
"Besides the guitar, I've taught myself how to play the piano and saxophone. I have never been trained on any of the instruments and relied on just my ears for music and learned by watching other musicians."
Fans voting for Cele are thrilled that this IT specialist taught himself music.
Sharp-tongued Randall Abrahams once said of Cele: "I think you are an Idol," suggesting Cele may be around for the long haul.
Cele still in hunt
DURBAN'S Lloyd Cele is breathing a sigh of relief after surviving another week in the popular Idols Season 6 competition.
Tuesday night saw 25-year-old Gail Nkoane from Kimberley become the first Top 10 contestant to be sent home by Idols voters, leaving Cele, a self-confessed family man, to woo judges and voters for yet another week.
The KwaMashu-born singer and pastor has reached the Top 10 of M-Net's popular Idols Season 6.
His first admission, although thrilled to have made it to the Top 10, is that he is missing his "little one".
Cele, one of only two married contestants on the show, is the father of a bubbly 16-month-old baby boy, Levi Josh.
He said reaching top of the pop music competition had left him in a quandary.
"I'm in this competition for my family and to give my son a better life and the longer I stay in, the better the chances of my getting to win," he said yesterday.
"But also, the longer I stay in the competition, the longer I am away from my wife Janice and son Levi Josh."
Cele moved from KwaMashu at the age of 10 with his mother and grandmother to the Durban township of Phoenix, a predominantly apartheid-era Indian area.
"We lived in one of the most notorious areas in Phoenix, Unit 2, one that has one of the biggest shebeens and drug dens in the Durban area. I became influenced by the gangsters who ran these places."
Cele said it was when he made his way to church that he was able to untangle himself from the shocking lifestyle that had become his.
From as young as he can remember, he has always been singing. He started writing music in his teens.
"Playing instruments came very late as there were no musicians in my family," he said.
"Church was my first exposure to instruments and I started taking a liking to the guitar at the age of 20. When I bought myself a guitar I had no knowledge of how to play it. I taught myself."
And while he may have moved to an area where English was the dominant language, Cele said he never strays too far from his roots, and engages regularly in his mother tongue, isiZulu.
"Besides the guitar, I've taught myself how to play the piano and saxophone. I have never been trained on any of the instruments and relied on just my ears for music and learned by watching other musicians."
Fans voting for Cele are thrilled that this IT specialist taught himself music.
Sharp-tongued Randall Abrahams once said of Cele: "I think you are an Idol," suggesting Cele may be around for the long haul.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos