Charming Craig feels the love

The number of fans and local celebrities who queued for pictures and autographs with British RnB crooner Craig David this past weekend showed the 30-year-old still has what it takes.

David, in the country for all of 24 hours as a guest judge on M-Net's Idols -- was at SET, a nightclub in Rosebank, this weekend, straight after his duties at the pre-recorded show which aired last night.

Former Survivor: Maldives contestant and actress Carmel Fisher pulled some strings to get the What's Your Flava singer to the venue, which is owned by her boyfriend.

Celebrities such as former Miss South Africa Tansey Coetzee and Orlando Pirates striker Benni McCarthy joined other fans who queued to meet David.

Fisher said: "He was an absolutely charming guest. Even though he didn't perform, he agreed to allow a few people at a time into the VIP area for pictures.

"He was very taken with the venue and Johannesburg - but of course he's been in this country four times before," she added.

Fisher said David enjoyed a few shots of tequila, but was careful not to over indulge as he had an early flight home.

His security team had arrived days before to check out the nightclub, and returned on the night to determine if it was safe.

David, who has garnered two Grammy nominations, performed his hit 7 Days - his biggest worldwide release - from his debut album Born To Do It, before joining Randall Abrahams, Unathi Msengana and Gareth Cliff at the judging table.

Capetonian Mark Haze said David's criticism was "constructive" and hailed the singer for his advice too.

"The reason why Unathi [Msengana] is my favourite judge is because the commentary comes from somebody who knows how it is on stage - she's a performer and she understands, which is what was so great about Craig David," Haze said.

Haze closed the show with an aggressive rendition of the Foo Fighters' The Pretender, having earlier sung Marvin Gaye's I Heard It Through The Grapevine. In his duet with fellow Top4 peer Crushanda Forbes on Sting's romantic Fields of Gold, the pair traded sultry vocals and naughty stares - a pleasant surprise.

Dave van Vuuren, who opened the show, covered Bruce Springsteen's Streets Of Philadelphia and the U2 hit, Beautiful Day, before pairing up with friend Freddie "Van'Dango" Moss to sing Don't Give Up, an '80s hit by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.

The live results show tomorrow will say goodbye to one more contestant ahead of the October 2 finale.