Richard Stirton (22) from Cape Town is the very first winner of M-Netโs proudly South African singing contest,ย The Voice SA.ย This also means that Kahn Morbee has come out tops as the winning coach of the season, beating fellow coaches andย esteemed musos Karen Zoid, Lira and Bobby van Jaarsveld at the finishing line.ย
ย
The name of the winner ofย The Voice SAย was announced during a live final from Sasani Studios in Johannesburg, which also included spectacular performances from Vusi Mahlasela and Riana Nel, as well as collaborations between the coaches and the talent in their teams who made it to the Top 8.ย
ย
Gavin Edwards (37) from Johannesburg, who was hot on Richardโs heels on theย iTunes charts this week at no 2, came in second for #TeamBobby, and #TeamLiraโs Jeremy Olivier (41) and #TeamKarenโs โStilfonteinโ, 25-year-old Almur Marais, rounded out the Top 4 tonight.ย
ย
Before he enteredย The Voice South Africaย and embarked on his journey to becoming South Africaโs next superstar, Richard was studying towards his B.Com management degree at UCT and playing music in Barnyard shows and at Cape Townโs famous โStardustโ restaurant. All four of the coaches turned for him during the Blind Auditions and he decided to join #TeamKahn because Kahn Morbee said that he had inspired him.ย
Richard beat James Freedom from Ballito in the Battle Rounds singing James Bayโs โHold Back The Riverโ and in the first live broadcast on 17 April he performed the old Proclaimers one-hit-wonder, โI'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)โ, prompting proud Coach Kahn to predict that he would probably end up winning the competition.ย
When he sang ย โDonโt You Worry Childโ from Swedish House Mafia in the following show, he was ย saved by the audienceโs vote, whereafter ย Kahn saved him on Top 12 show on Mumford & Sonsโs โI Will Waitโ.ย
Last week ย Richard closed the show with a stirring rendition of the Simon & Garfukel classic โThe Sound of Silenceโ, which went all the way to Number 1 on South African iTunes on the very same night.ย
Richard walks away with a spectacular prize package worth more than R800 000, comprising:
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A R200ย 000 cash prize from DialDirect;
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A brand new Fiat 500;
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A coveted Gear S2 watch from Samsung, along with a Samsung Galaxy S7 smart phone, a ย Gearย Virtualย Reality set, a JS9000 smart TV and Level On Headphones;
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย R100ย 000 worth of cutting-edge fashion from Truworths;
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And of course that coveted recording contract with Universal Music South Africa.
ย
During the show, there was also some great news forย Zoรซ Modiga (22) and Thembeka Mnguni (32). They were both offered recording contracts by Universal Music South Africa!
ย
โThe Voice SAย has been an amazing platform for the incredible talent on the show and we believe that it will launch plenty of successful music careers, โsays M-Netโs Head of Publicity, Lani Lombard. โUniversal Music has already shown interest in signing some of the other talent as well and more announcements will be made soon.ย
ย
Richard's winning moment:
JoinThe Voice SAย conversation on โThe Voice SAโ Facebook page, viaย Twitter onย @VoiceSAย andย @VoiceSA on Instagramย usingย #TheVoiceSA, #TeamBobby, #TeamLira, #TeamKahnย andย #TeamKarenย hashtags. The Voice South Africaย was produced for M-Net by AMPN andย sponsored by Dialdirect.