South Africa This article is more than 11 years oldFame finally finds teenage township singing sensation
This article is more than 11 years oldMusic industry search for child star of YouTube viral music video ends at South African teenager Vicus Visser's doorA 10-year-old boy sits in his living room in a poverty-stricken South African township, singing his heart out and strumming a guitar that threatens to dwarf him.
This two-minute video lay dormant for years, but when it finally went viral it revealed such a precocious talent that record industry executives launched an international hunt for the mystery boy with the angelic voice.
The trail led to Vicus Visser who, now 19, is earning comparisons with Justin Bieber and about to make his first trip to America. Vicus and his brother Vincent will represent South Africa at the Kennedy Centre in Washington next month in a tribute concert to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King for Black History Month.
"I'm very overwhelmed," Vicus said on Tuesday. "I'm very excited about it. It's a dream come true."
Life has handed Vicus few advantages except a remarkable voice. He grew up in a mixed-race family in a five-room house built by the government in Heidedal, a crime and drug-plagued township near Bloemfontein in Free State province. His family says the marriage between his father, a groundsman at a football stadium, and his mother, Elsie Peters, a cashier, ended in divorce.
Vicus remembers the day nine years ago when he made the recording of These Arms by All For One that would change his life. "I normally sing when I've nothing to do, when I've done my homework," he said. "On that day I had nothing to do so I sang, then a friend came over and begged me to sing it again so she could record it. She sent it around and I was mad with her.
"It was just a clip that I recorded for fun, but the way I sing must have appealed to people. It's something I always treasure. When I watch it now, I see a raw talent that others must have seen. I'm always amazed. I smile and I laugh."
This was no overnight sensation. Vicus said he does not know why it took so long for the video to spread to YouTube and the US record industry. But when it did, there was a scramble to track down the beguiling 10-year-old.
Omar Grant, a talent scout for Sony's Epic Records label, posted an appeal on Facebook that said: "I'm contacting you because I need your help in trying to find a young man that we recently discovered on YouTube. He is about 10 or 12 years old and goes by the name of 'Vicus'. We believe his talent is amazing and we'd love to offer him a major label recording deal."
Scouts headed to South Africa but looked for Vicus in vain near Cape Town. They enlisted the help of TV and radio personality Gareth Cliff, a judge on Idols South Africa, who issued appeals on his radio show and on Facebook and Twitter. A tabloid newspaper put the story of the quest on its front page.
Vicus was finally located two years ago, swiftly dubbed "the Bieber of Bloem" and inundated with offers. His manager, Rina Broomberg, recalled on South African M-Net television's Carte Blanche programme: "We got from Atlantic, Universal, from Sony International … There were people who wanted to get him on to the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Oprah, and it was just too overwhelming."
Vicus's home came under siege but he kept his head and, with his mother's backing, turned down all the offers so he could finish school. "People started offering me all sorts of deals but I concentrated on education first," he said. "I said no to America because I'm South African first. I didn't worry about the money; it's not important to me. It was tempting but I'm glad I did the right thing."
With his exams out of the way, Vicus has moved to Johannesburg, begun recording an album with South Africa's David Gresham Records and will be giving live performances and posting more YouTube videos this year.
The teenager, who says his greatest inspiration is the singer and songwriter Usher, said: "If the opportunities present themselves, I'll be glad. I'd love to tour the world. Performing has always been the thing I love doing.
"Washington will be the biggest step I've taken. It's an enormous opportunity to make the country proud. As long as I touch someone, I'm more than happy."
As for comparisons with 18-year-old Bieber, Vicus mused: "Justin Bieber is Justin Bieber, a great icon. I want Vicus Visser to shine as Vicus Visser, not in the shadow of Justin Bieber."
Cliff told Carte Blanche: "He has an appeal for screaming 13-year-old teenage girls, like Justin Bieber would, but he can quite easily make a table of 80-year-olds at a birthday partly feel like they're the most important women in the world."
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