Johannesburg - Samantha Leonard is super excited to be working with her idol, Karen Zoid.
Last Sunday the pretty brunette from Kimberley wowed South Africans with a powerful performance on The Voice South Africa and scored four chair turns in the TV show’s blind auditions.
“Unbelievable performance, unbelievable vocal range unbelievable everything,” Zoid told the 24-year-old singer after her rendition of Jessie J Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s smash hit Bang Bang.
Leonard moved to Cape Town at 18 after she matriculated.
She studied at the Campus of Performing Arts (Copa) where she did music and performance.
This is where her break into the music industry began.
“Towards the end of my first year at Copa, I entered the Upstage Singing Competition, which I won.
“That is when The Barnyard Theatre noticed me and I was part of their shows for a year and a half. Every two months we would tour the country.”
But Leonard is certain everything up to that point was preparing her for her blind audition on The Voice SA.
“I was so lucky all four coaches turned for me.
“But I had my heart set to be on Karen Zoid’s team right from the beginning.
“I can relate to her life story, she shares so much of herself with you. She is the perfect person for me to learn from about being an artist and we have a similar style,” she said.
Leonard recently worked with another successful contestant, Bryce MacMillan, and the two shot a video.
Leonard took to Instagram last week to post an image of the two with the caption: “A little sneak-peak behind the scenes of a video we shot today.
“Can’t wait to share it with all of you.”