Gene Rockwell (1944–1998) was a South African singer. His 1965 rendition of "Heart" went directly to the top of the

LM Radio LM Radio is a radio station based in Maputo, Mozambique. Historically it was a shortwave station broadcasting to South Africa and Rhodesia from Lourenço Marques, the colonial era name of Maputo, hence the name "Lourenço Marques Radio" from 193 ...

Top 20.

History

Gene was born Gert Smit in 1944 in the town of

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

in the then

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He died at the age of 53 years, on July 3, 1998, of cancer. He won his first talent competition at the age of 15, in Durban's "Little Top". Still in his teens, Gene formed The Blue Angels, later to become The Falcons, in 1963, with whom he played guitar and sang his famous gritty-blues-style songs. The original line up of the Falcons were George Usher (lead guitar), Jannie Heynes (bass guitar), Clive Swegman (rhythm guitar), Frank Rickson (drums). They played many packed out shows, becoming a staple of the dance scene in South Africa, particularly Durban. Gert Smit was an extraordinary musician, however he turned to crime in he's latter years, defrauding Suncol in Benoni in the East rand in 1984, thereafter he set up a 'office' at the Mariston Hotel in Claim street Johannesburg 'importing' Nigerian drug dealers by organizing Visas and marriages with poor African South African women.

Discography

References

Gene Rockwell - Heart

Notes

1944 births 1998 deaths People from Krugersdorp White South African people 20th-century South African male singers {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub