Donel Mangena, who was raised in Zimbabwe, become became the talk of millions of viewers of The Voice UK, both in the UK and South Africa when it was shown earlier this year.
ALSO READ: Zimbabwe-Raised Teen Donel Mangena Is The Talk Of The Voice UK
Seventeen-year old Donel is set to pay a lightning visit to Johannesburg next week as a guest of ITV Choice, the DStv channel which broadcast The Voice UK 2018, and will show the 2019 series early next year.
In this year’s show, the teen wowed the judges and the Voice audience, scoring a standing ovation after his jaw-dropping rendition of Major Lazer and Justin Bieber’s Cold Water in the blind audition round, singing parts of the song in his native isiNdebele.
Donel, who now lives in Southampton, barely made it through half his song before all four coaches pressed their buzzers and turned their chairs for the young singer. Donel’s 77-year-old grandmother Nita, who looked after him in Bulawayo in his younger years, could hardly contain her excitement and ran onto the stage, stealing the show with her own dance moves.
The four coaches – Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson and Olly Murs fought over who got to train the budding talent, with will.i.am finally managing to persuade the teen to join his team. Viewers flocked to Twitter to hail Donel, praising him for his voice and his performance and, although the young singer ultimately came in second, behind eventual winner Ruti Olajugbagbe, it was Donel who stole the series and hearts of millions.
The talented young singer credits his father – Bulawayo-born musician and composer Nkosana Mangena who is also known as Mangesto – for his inspiration.
Donel has just released his first single Bang Like a Drum which he debuted on the final episode of The Voice Kids UK recently. It can be viewed here:
Donel will be a guest at the ITV Choice Showcase being held in Sandton on Wednesday this week, where the channel will present all its new shows for the rest of the year including The Voice UK which will be broadcast on the channel (DStv 123) in January 2019 – once again only 24-hours after the UK transmission.
Image Courtesy: Supplied
