From streetkid to reigning Idols champ

Idols season X winner Vincent Bones ( Photo/Cobus Bodenstein )

Idols season X winner Vincent Bones ( Photo/Cobus Bodenstein )

Published Nov 24, 2014

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From streetkid to Idol, KwaZulu-Natal’s Vincent Bones, 30, was the clear winner of Sunday night’s Idols Season 10 finale.

And, although Bones’s win came as a surprise, Twitter had been abuzz on Sunday with fans pre-empting the result, saying it was “obvious”.

The last time KwaZulu-Natal had an Idols winner was in 2012, with Khaya Mthethwa.

Bones walks away with R700 000, among other prizes.

Before he entered Idols, South Africa’s newest star was the musical director of the Eagle Christian Centre in Pietermaritzburg.

“I found my love for singing and writing songs very late, around 17 or 18. Before that I was only interested in soccer,” said Bones, who is a diehard Kaizer Chiefs fan.

“I left my job at the church to pursue Idols, and I want to inspire others to reach for their dreams, too.

“I want to be singing until I am 60. Some of our past is painful but we all need to move on and look towards a better future and fight for our dreams.”

Originally from Joburg, Bones grew up in Eldorado Park, but his mother and an uncle died by the time he was 12.

Circumstances forced him to leave home and he survived on the streets of Pretoria for several years until he joined Girls and Boys Town, the largest private childcare organisation in the country, which changed his life.

“Vincent is living proof of what love, understanding and discipline can do and the good work that has been done here over the last half a century,” said Girls and Boys Town chief executive Lee Loynes.

 

Runner-up Bongi Silinda, 24, from Mbombela, said in an interview last week that, win or lose, she would pursue a career in music.

She said she had always been drawn to performing, studying music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and later drama in Gauteng.

The dates for Season 11 auditions will be announced early next year. - The Star

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