Sonja Herholdt (born 1 December 1952) is a South African singer-songwriter and
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...
actress.
Personal life
Herholdt was born in the small
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
mining village of
Nigel
Nigel ( ) is an English language, English masculine given name.
The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walte ...
and at the age of three made her first singing performance at the local community recreation hall, singing the
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
lullaby ''Slaap, my Kindjie''.
She attended the Afrikaans-medium Tini Vorster Primary and Hoërskool John Vorster where she became
Head Girl
Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...
in both and followed her theatrical pursuits.
[Ms Sonja HERHOLDT]
Who's Who.
She later obtained a diploma ''
cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' in Teaching after three years at the
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
(Goudstad) College of Education. She gave up teaching to pursue music after meeting her future husband, FC Hamman.
The couple married in 1976 and started a family, their youngest son later developed an extreme hearing impairment in 1993. Herholdt subsequently decided to start a school for hearing and linguistically impaired Afrikaans children, this was housed in the pre-primary section of
Bryanston
Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an inde ...
Primary School. This resulted in Herholdt returning to teach for a period of time.
In 1996, Herholdt was involved in a serious car accident. She and her husband subsequently divorced after 21 years of marriage.
[
In collaboration with Carel Cronjé, she released her autobiography in 2007 ''Sonja: Meisie van Nigel''.]
Career
Her breakthrough came when she did a spot on Gwynneth Ashley Robin's show and was soon asked to record ''Ek Verlang Na Jou''.[ The single went gold in South Africa, selling over 25 000 copies.][
Her subsequent albums and singles earned her similar critical and commercial success. She went on to win a total of eight ]Sarie
''Sarie'' is a South African women's magazine, written in Afrikaans. It is published by Media24, and is their oldest publication for women, first published in 1949 under the title ''Sarie Marais''.
Based in Cape Town, it is the most popular ...
awards.[ In the 1970s and 1980s, she was frequently the best-selling female artist in South Africa.][
In 1979, she finally fulfilled her ambition to act by starring in ''Sing vir die Harlekyn'', and winning a Rapport Oscar-Award as ''Best Female Newcomer''.][
She later enjoyed music success in Europe, she holds the distinction of being the first ever South African singer to be invited to perform in the ]Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
on their local Television.Op Volle Toeren
TROS 26-03-1981 She recorded her song ''Oberammergau'' in Dutch. She also performed in Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, pushing ''Oberammergau'' into fifth place in the Belgian charts.[
In 1989, she performed at the Religious Broadcasting Corporation in ]Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, coinciding with the release of her gospel album, ''The Warrior is a Child''.[
In 1991, she received an award from the ''Afrikaans Chamber of Commerce'' for her services to Afrikaans music.][
In 1995, she signed an album contract with ]BMG Records
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...
, enjoying success with the title track of her new BMG compilation, ''Skipskop''. Her 1998 album ''Ritsel in die Rietbos'' did not meet critical and commercial expectations. But she rebounded with the critically acclaimed 2000 album, ''Reconstructing Alice''.[
In 2002 she developed her own record company, Son Music and released ''Sonjare'', a nostalgic retrospective of her original hits.][Biography]
Sonja Herholdt.
Discography
Herholdt has recorded several albums and singles since the 1970s;
Albums
*''Sonja'' (1976)
*''Sonja Herholdt'' (1977)
*''On stage/In die kalklig'' (1978)
*''Waterblommetjies'' (1978)
*n Lied vir Kersfees'' (1979)
*''Harlekyn (Gold)'' (1979)
*''Grootste Treffers'' (1980)
*''Waarom Daarom'' (1981)
*''Reflections'' (1982)
*''Liefdeslig'' (1984)
*''Lofsang – Sonja Herholdt en Jan de Wet'' (1985)
*''Dis net vir jou'' (1987)
*''Sonja Herholdt sing die Jeugsangbundel'' (1987)
*''Sonja Herholdt sing die Jeugsangbundel 2'' (1988)
*''Tuiskoms'' (1988)
*''Die Klokkespel 'Vrede'' (1989)
*''The Warrior is a Child'' (1989)
*n Ster Vanaand'' (1994)
*''Tuiskoms'' (1995)
*''More sal die son weer skyn'' (1996)
*''Ritsel in die Rietbos'' (1998)
*''Reconstructing Alice'' (2000)
*''Sonjare''
*''20 Gunsteling treffers''
*''Dis Kersfees''
*''Sonja Herholdt Skipskop''
*''Die mense wat ek liefhet''*''Gunsteling treffers'' (1992)
*''Sê die engele moet kyk na my'' (1994)
*''Die verhale van vrouwees''
*''She''
*''She The Princess''
*''Liefling die movie''
*''Pêrels''
Awards
References
External links
Official websiteSonja Herholdt
a
Who's Who Southern Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herholdt, Sonja
1952 births
Living people
People from Nigel, Gauteng
Afrikaner people
Afrikaans-language singers
20th-century South African women singers
South African actresses
South African people of German descent