A thriving nurse dropped her scrubs to seek fame as a musician.
Pamela Ndlovu from Ennerdale said she was willing to give up her comfortable livelihood, knowing it wouldn't be easy to find her feet in the entertainment industry.
The 34-year-old tried her luck with music before she took on nursing in 2010.
She said she first discovered she could sing when she was seven and recorded a demo CD called Knight Rider years later.
But she admits the frustration of the failed project saw her head off to a nursing college looking for a new life.
To pay for her tuition fees she would sing karaoke at the then The Base nightclub in Hillbrow.
Upon qualifying as a nurse in 2014, she worked as a nursing sister in different hospitals.
"I was happy helping ailing people as a nurse," she recalls. "The experience can be emotional, but one needs to be strong. I found myself relying more on my spirituality and prayer to help with the healing of the patients. Nursing is therefore a calling."
She decided to quit nursing last year to give singing another shot. Inspired by the late songstress Lebo Mathosa, she continued to write Afro-pop songs.
She released a 14-track demo album in 2015 but it did not do as well as she had hoped. But this time she did not lose hope.
She started attending gigs and performing tracks off the debut album and her dream started coming together in 2017.
"More people started booking me to perform and that's how I started making money. I realised I was making more than my monthly nursing salary. I had to sit my mom down and explain that I wanted to leave nursing.
"She didn't take the whole issue well but she sponsored me with R10,000 to work on the album I'm busy with now. I believe it will be better this round," she said.
Pamela Ndlovu still listening to beat of her music
A thriving nurse dropped her scrubs to seek fame as a musician.
Pamela Ndlovu from Ennerdale said she was willing to give up her comfortable livelihood, knowing it wouldn't be easy to find her feet in the entertainment industry.
The 34-year-old tried her luck with music before she took on nursing in 2010.
She said she first discovered she could sing when she was seven and recorded a demo CD called Knight Rider years later.
But she admits the frustration of the failed project saw her head off to a nursing college looking for a new life.
To pay for her tuition fees she would sing karaoke at the then The Base nightclub in Hillbrow.
Upon qualifying as a nurse in 2014, she worked as a nursing sister in different hospitals.
"I was happy helping ailing people as a nurse," she recalls. "The experience can be emotional, but one needs to be strong. I found myself relying more on my spirituality and prayer to help with the healing of the patients. Nursing is therefore a calling."
She decided to quit nursing last year to give singing another shot. Inspired by the late songstress Lebo Mathosa, she continued to write Afro-pop songs.
She released a 14-track demo album in 2015 but it did not do as well as she had hoped. But this time she did not lose hope.
She started attending gigs and performing tracks off the debut album and her dream started coming together in 2017.
"More people started booking me to perform and that's how I started making money. I realised I was making more than my monthly nursing salary. I had to sit my mom down and explain that I wanted to leave nursing.
"She didn't take the whole issue well but she sponsored me with R10,000 to work on the album I'm busy with now. I believe it will be better this round," she said.