Simphiwe Gwegwe

Simphiwe Gwegwe, It took guts and determination for 23-year-old Simphiwe Gwegwe just to get to audition for Idols Season 8. He took a bus from Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape to Johannesburg, South Africa for the Sandton auditions but arrived too late, so he had to find accommodations for a week and make his way to Durban a week later for the second rounds of auditions. But it was all worth it when he became the only performer from the Northern Cape to make it to the Top 18!

Simphiwe reckons he inherited that quality of determination from his mother. “My mother is a single parent and she raised us all by herself,” he says. “Me and my family are very close and my mom is my best friend. She’s a community activist, so the house is always full of people, and she also has three choirs, so there’s always some activity taking place in the household, whether it’s people coming to visit or something to do with music.” So a love of music was always ingrained in the young Simphiwe.