World Song Contest

THE WINNER

Country: South Africa
Artist(s): David Fourie feat. Eclips
Song: Baby Maak Net Oop Jou Deur

Born and bread in the country in 1981, a small town boy with big dreams embarked on a journey with nothing more than hope and buckets full of talent. David Fourie was raised in a middle class home, small town in the South African country side. He started playing piano at the age of 3 and was surrounded by a musical family. At the tender age of 11 he travelled to Switzerland, Germany and the UK to take part in international music festivals. He found a sanctuary in a local church band, first starting off in the choir and gradually working his way up as band leader at the age of 20. Although he gained invaluable experience in the band, a career as commercial music artist lured him to enter into South Africa's first major Reality TV music contest, called Idols. Approximately 9000 people entered, among them David Fourie who travelled 11 hours by bus to attend the auditions. As fate would have it, this naive boy made it into the finals of the competition and he was part of the elite 10 who would compete in the final round. Determined to make the best of this golden opportunity he negotiated a deal with Sony/BMG to release a single immediately after the competition. It was received to critical acclaim and the South African media noticed with surprise the appearance of this "cast away" on the music scene. His first full length album "Land in die Suide" followed quickly with hits parading on various radio stations. Music videos were flighted on all the major music channels and the music industry took note of David Fourie arrival on the scene. A transition occurred and he decided to approach the biggest Afrikaans Record Label in South Africa for a deal in 2005. Fourie was signed to a four album deal with Select Music. His first release with the new label dropped in 2006 called "Kom hier na My Toe" achieved gold status and received numerous awards and nominations. Including the South African Music Awards! In 2008 he travelled to the UK, Switzerland and the Mediterranean to sing in corporate functions, travel and write material for a new album. 2009 sees the release of his latest album "Vir 'n 100 000 Jare". It has been embraced by all major media entities, including major radio stations, TV channels and music critics. Early reviews have hailed it as his best work to date and a certain hit with the public. Fourie has appeared on every local television show, numerous articles have been written about his rise to fame as a local music star.

Eclips are a South African band consisting of Lizelle le Roux and Emrie de Klerk. They have released three albums together. There music is a mix of traditional African and Dutch sounds mixed with Classical. They studied at Pretoria university and have travelled to America, Russia and West Europe. Singles of theirs have been Hemel op Tafelberg, Hoeka Toeka, Time to say goodbye and Simply the best!