Claire Johnston is the lead singer of Mango Groove. She joined the group at the age of 17 and has recorded six albums with them, plus two solo outings.
With Johnston as the frontwoman, the band released their debut self-titled album in 1989, and more music followed throughout the ‘90s. They were on hiatus between 1995 and 2009’s comeback, ‘Bang The Drum’, and in this time Johnston released her solo albums ‘Fearless’ (2001) and ‘Africa Blue’ (2004), plus did a benefit album with Jeff Maluleke called ‘Starehe: An African Day’ (2006).
Johnston opened for Belinda Carlisle on her South African tour in 2005, and regularly sang the national anthem at major sporting events. Mango Groove's most recent album, 2016's ‘Faces to the Sun’, was four years in the making.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v16CwfkppeI
Craig Lucas is, of course, best known as the winner of the second season of The Voice SA. From Elsiesrivier in Cape Town, he’s a graduate in Economics and Politics at UCT, but despite a promising career ahead of him in the corporate world, Craig always secretly loved singing.
He made a promise to his mother that he would finish his degree first before starting on a road to music, and boldly took the plunge to come to The Voice SA, despite never having sung in front of so many people before. His blistering version of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” was enough for all four of the coaches to press their buzzers and despite some serious pleas, Craig chose Kahn Morbee – the first coach to turn for him – as his coach.
During each round of the competition, Craig wowed the audience with his unique interpretations of popular songs, demonstrating why coach Kahn called him “the love child of John Legend and Freddy Mercury”.
After winning, Craig released his debut album, ‘Restless’, which included songwriting by last week’s #DWTSSA guest Dominic Neill. His most recent single outing was with Idols SA winner Paxton, titled “Smother”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2493cqIdeFQ
Mafikizolo is a singing duo consisting of Theo Kgosinkwe and Nhlanhla Nciza. They are three-time winners of the South African Music Award for Group or Duo of the Year.
Shortly after Mafikizolo shot to fame, they were involved in a near fatal car accident which left some of the band members in hospital for weeks. When they began picking up the pieces, original member Tebza Madingoane was killed in a road rage incident.
They pulled themselves back together and scored a series of hits from the noughties onwards, including the massive cross-continental hit, “Khona”. Their most recent album was 2017’s ‘Love Potion’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fDmXfKAXnU
Dancing with the Stars SA airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Sundays at 17:00. Join the conversation on the Dancing with the Stars Facebook page, or on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #DWTSSA.