After helping people feel good about themselves for close to two decades, beauty therapist Sue-Kelly Maneveld is planning to continue to spread her goodness – this time through music.
Going by the moniker Shiny, this Cape Town-born star recently released her debut album, “Medicine", which has been eight years in the making.
“I recorded my first song eight years ago so it's been a long time coming,” she explained.
The 39-year old says she doesn’t want to be boxed into a specific genre and she describes her sound as “poetic pop”.
“I don’t want to be defined by a certain type of music. I love all sorts of music, if you listen to my album, it’s a mixture of all different types of music.
“There’s a little bit of R&B, I even got a rave song in there, then there’s a slow song. I actually wanted to do a song in every genre. I know it sounds a bit corny but I wanted to accommodate everybody. “
She’s also passionate about song-writing.
“I write my own music. I enjoy writing. My love for writing comes from my love of philosophy. I love philosophy. Philosophy is life and what is life, life is love. So, yeah, that's my passion. My passion is love...I’m all about love,” she added.
Aside from being the founder of Be-Dazzle Hair Beauty and Slimming salon, she runs her own beauty import company, and she is also a motivational speaker and philanthropist, while also completing her final year in law school.
The singer says her music is inspired by personal experiences.
Given her history of TB and lung infection, she recently had a Covid-19 scare. But it turned out that her lungs were inflamed, which meant a week in the hospital.
“I still go to work (salon) twice a week, just so I inspire my staff and motivate them to thrive in the face of adversity.”
And it was her optimism and a positive attitude that helped her through some of life’s toughest challenges.
“My voice box is completely damaged. It got damaged at a very young age because I loved performing so much,” she shared.
Regardless of her health challenges, she is determined to continue singing.
“I feel like I'm a little wounded butterfly but I'm still persevering. I'm still pushing forward. And for me, this is not about fame, it's just about getting my message out and change people’s lives.
“When I release the song ‘Medicine’ that was achievement enough ... just getting to this point, shooting the music video, having the courage to do what I dreamt of all my life.”
Shiny refers to the album as her “soul diary" as she poured her heart and soul into it.
“I wrote it when I was in a place of heartache but most of my songs are happy songs with a deep meaning. 'Medicine' is a synonym for happiness,” she shared.
“Medicine” is available on all major streaming platforms.