This 21-year-old talent has many people talking after his powerful performance in The Born To Perform showcase last weekend and had the audience on it’s feet with his incredible voice!
The name John Tsenoli is soon to be on everyone’s lips with his powerful debut single ‘I’m Just A Boy’ which dropped today, Friday 20th September.
Composed by John, alon with industry greats Ryno Zeelie and Matthew Marinus, I’m Just a boy is an endearing and introspective introduction to the 21-year old, the journey he has travelled to get to this starting point, and where he intends to take his music career into the future.
Music had always been John’s passion, and so 4 years ago as a shy 17-year old, John packed up and left his family and the mountains of his homeland of Lesotho and headed to Johannesburg to pursue his dream.
Tough times ensued and soon had John questioning his decision. He was just days away from heading back home “where he would need to herd cattle” as John says when a friend encouraged him to audition for Born To Perform’s Gala Concert that year, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Not only was he cast in the show, but was also given a featured number in the Hamilton segment, where many people in the entertainment industry sat up and took notice.
Gemma Marinus, Director of Born To Perform and Stageworx Performing Arts School, then offered John a full-time scholarship to attend the school, an opportunity that John didn’t hesitate to accept and jump ahead to 3 years later, he has recently qualified with a prestigious LTCL Degree in Performing Arts from Trinity College in London – which he passed with distinction.
In the few years John has been in Johannesburg, he has fast established himself as a force to be reckoned with on stage, where he is now anything BUT shy!
Stage credits are already stacking up; from his inaugural Born To Perform Gala Concert to A Night With the Stars with the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra, Capital Singers alongside Jonathan Roxmouth, Gospel Spectacular alongside the likes of Brian Temba, Connell Cruise and Mahalia Buchanan and most recently being featured in Gone Too Soon.
When asked what I’m Just a Boy is about, a smile lights his face as he explains; “For me, I’m Just A Boy is something very close to my heart. It’s about the fact that this is just the start of what I hope will be an incredible journey for me, it’s about a young boy who had big, scary dreams. About pursuing that dream and never giving up, no matter how tough it may get. It’s also an introduction of who I am to listeners who I hope will want to travel this journey with me.”
It’s very important for John as he travels this exciting journey, to give back to other youngsters and encourage and work with them, just as he was encouraged by people like Gemma and Matthew Marinus and Mullin Krienke at Stageworx Performing Arts School and many others.
‘I’m Just a Boy’ is the first single of a 3-part song release that John believes will then be the ideal introduction to him as an artist.
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