Idols wannabes get wake-up call

12 August 2011 - 03:25 By ANDILE NDLOVU
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Idols contestant Kelly Fortuin gives her all in her effort to impress the Idols judges Picture: COBUS BODENSTEIN
Idols contestant Kelly Fortuin gives her all in her effort to impress the Idols judges Picture: COBUS BODENSTEIN

Previous Idols winners have warned the current season's crop about the pitfalls of the music industry, just weeks before one of them bags the title and all its trappings.

Among the ominous warnings is that they will be left to their own devices once the confetti has been swept away.

Season 1 winner Heinz Winckler, arguably the only winner of the reality show's first four seasons to maintain a stable recording career, said his secret to success had been making it past "a few rude awakenings".

"After the cameras and lights are out, you then get down to the nitty-gritty, and it's just you and a car and you're travelling to a dorpie, sharing a toilet with audiences at a venue with no backstage," he said.

"You must raise the bar and understand that it's not Hollywood and we don't have the same budgets."

The 33-year-old said he had learned early on that securing votes from "people who sat at home on their couches" didn't mean that they would subsequently come out to his gigs after the competition.

What made the difference was whether a singer was prepared to stick it out during those tough times.

Since his successful stint in New York in 2008 on the popular musical, Rent, Winckler released his fifth album 24/7/365, and is mentoring young aspiring singers recruited through his Heinz Winckler Workshop.

Season 2 winner Anke Pietrangeli and her successor, Karin Kortje, seemed to have been overawed by the spotlight, and Kortje has struggled with a range of personal issues.

These include her former boyfriend being convicted of murder; enduring physical abuse; drug and alcohol abuse, and losing her recording deal as well as other endorsements.

But now she has begun to piece back her career and is currently enjoying a six-show musical run at Cape Town's Baxter Theatre, called This is My Life, which ends this weekend.

Another Capetonian winner, 21-year-old Jody Williams, parted ways with her record label, Sony Music, and is now a free agent.

She said yesterday: "You're taught the basics [during Idols]), but you're not taught what to expect from the industry outside of the competition."

Jason Hartman, the season 5 winner (he shared the title with Sasha-Lee Davids), added: "The road is not always glamorous and you will eat cold pies and drink cold coffee in the same pair of jeans you have been wearing for three days! But I love it."

Of this year's contestants, Winckler picked Dave van Vuuren as his front-runner. Williams leaned towards Mark Haze and the "very cute" Freddy "Van 'Dango" Moss.

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