“Stop. Breath. Smile” Mariechan Luiters
A beautiful women with a zest for life, friendly, down to earth and humble are just a few words to describe this SOULSTRESS and artist. The only direction I see her heading to is all the way to the top!
(Q) What was your childhood like?
(A) I had a well-balanced happy upbringing. My parents are my biggest support system, each in their different ways. Today I can proudly say i appreciate my father for being strict, leaning towards respect, discipline, strength & perseverance which installed values in me that kept me rooted & that got me through challenging times. My Father is My Rock. My mom, free spirited and thee most caring and giving human being I’ve ever met, her heart is as big as her smile! She believes that love makes a home, it conquers all. My mom is my Anchor. My siblings & I could still get away with some things with her but we had no luck with daddy dearest lol, we nicknamed him “stop sign” , together he and my mom make a good balance. Although I was a very introverted, homely & complexed child, I never felt out of place in my home, I just knew I had a special gift. My gran spotted my talent when I was just 3 years old and told my mom that her little girl is gonna be a singer one day. Life in school, well, I had a love/hate relationship with school, hehe. When I wasn’t bullied by kids & rescued by my younger sister, I was writing songs and poetry for my first crush, the principle’s son, who never noticed me, shame. Life goes on! Music was my escape, my pen pal & I was blessed to grow up in a musical family who loves a good karaoke night, LOL! After school, I would rush home for my daily fix, recording my favourite tunes on radio, rewind and play it over and over driving my brother and sister nuts. While they loved making friends and doing what kids do, play, I was consumed with Music in my own imaginary world. By the time I was 13, the music teacher Ms Adams discovered me singing a Whitney Houston song in the girl’s rest room. She was the first person outside my family who heard me sing and that was the beginning of a new journey, new discoveries…Mariechan the singer, emerged.
(Q) Was it always your dream to be a singer?
(A) Always! Music chose me, it was all part of God’s plan. My purpose is to share, move and inspire, to bring people into one place and share through my music, pieces of me. I’m supposed to move souls the way music moves mine. Music is a powerful force that connects us to the world and my gift to sing adds flavour to music’s message.
(Q) When you fell pregnant did you feel like you couldn’t accomplish your dream anymore?
(A) I already accomplished so much with the platform I was given, there will always be negatives and positives, but I choose to see both as blessings, how else will I grow? I try to be the best version of myself, I’ll rise I’ll fall; make them stepping stones to a nobler character. I worked even harder at my dream; because now, my extended self was a part of it. We can achieve anything we gear our minds to. I didn’t let circumstance define me as an artist nor as a woman.
(Q) What or who motivated you to enter Popstars?
(A) I entered Popstars in 2002. That was the first time I entered a reality TV competition. It was a nerve wrecking process, that year I didn’t easily adjust to lights, cameras and thousands of other singers; it was all new to me. I wasn’t singing in front of the locals in my community, this was a different ballgame. My lack of confidence showed and I didn’t make it further than top 30. I felt so demoralized after that and told my folks that I would never enter any singing competition again. The 2003 auditions came, the last audition day was on the Sunday I was working, still, I stuck with my decision to not go. Torn inside, I knew I had to either take a leap of faith or cut the wings of my dreams… I decided to go to the auditions which closed by the time I got there. Little did I know, the impression I made the year before stuck with some of the judges and crew members, the minute they found out it was me outside, they had me go in and put me through to the next round. The lesson? Talent will speak for itself and perseverance will open doors. My burning desire to grow, learn and master my art is what motivated me to enter Popstars for the 1st and 2nd time! God prepared me for that year in 2003, and that’s the year when I made it into the girl group Jamali with Liesl Penniken and Jacqui Carpede.
So what inspired me; was my own voice, but also Gods voice and I didn’t allow people to put me down, to make me stop doing what I love doing which is singing. It was my voice, Gods voice that inspired me to go try again, not to give up… This marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life…
(Q) Is there anything that you would love to change about your life when you look back?
(A) ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! if you had asked me this a few years ago I would have probably named a few things that I would have loved to change, but I think if I didn’t go through trials and tribulations, I wouldn’t be here talking to you, I wouldn’t be the woman, daughter, sister, mother I am today. This is my personal evolution, there’s blessings in lessons. We get so caught up asking for blessings that we forget we’re already blessed. I get to write songs and sing for people! It doesn’t get any better than that. #Love #peace #music. A few years back I had a fan come up to me when they heard the song Secrets, a young girl, and she told me “thank you so much for writing that song” , she was 18. She was about to commit suicide, then the song Secrets came on the radio and just by hearing my voice she stopped! The song resonated so deep within her that it saved her life. She told me ; she needed to record that song, that was her lifeline, not the rope she wanted to hang herself with. I just started crying and she held on to me and that’s why I love doing what I do and never regret anything…
(Q) So what other projects are you currently working on?
(A) I’m working on My Solo Project, after 10 years together, Jamali has given us the platform to now embark on individual endeavours and discovering our own truths. Being in Jamali has taught me about womanhood and growing up. We still love doing work together, shifting more focus on our Individual careers was a natural progression. Jamali is our foundation, our home. As an artist you need to explore different parts of what makes you, you. People got to experience us as a group, now they get to know us as individuals.
Another project that I was involved in, was writing a soundtrack for the book titled Soul to Sole by Timothy Maurice Webster. I believe that in everybody’s life it’s important to have someone who believes in you. I am privileged to work closely with someone who believes in me. He came up with the concept of me writing a song for his book. I wrote the song that same day and kept the title Soul to sole to honour the journey of this amazing author.
(Q) Do you now believe that any coloured person can achieve their dreams?
(A) The key focus shouldn’t be about race, Let the focus be about humanity, because any coloured person can achieve success just like any other human being can. I won’t make the focus around being coloured, because being coloured comes with positives and negatives. Often the negatives override the positives. I represent the best of both worlds for I am black and white. Show people you good at what you do, I can add a bit of Xhosa in my music, I can add a bit of Afrikaans , I can do both of those things, because I represent both. So be the best of both worlds and never lose your zest to sparkle in life.
All pictures are original
Jamali’s Pictures: By Jamali
All answers: By Mariechan Luiters
For bookings call: 0828847542
Soul to Sole by Mariechan Luiters is available from iTunes
Stonecold by Mariechan Luiters via http://soundcloud.com/mariechan-sa/stonecold?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=mshare&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/mariechan-sa/stonecold … #Soundcloud
Through coloured lenses 