Theuns Jordaan (10 January 1971 – 17 November 2021) was a South African singer-songwriter.

Biography

Jordaan was born on 10 January 1971 on a

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

farm near

Venterstad Venterstad is a settlement in Walter Sisulu Local Municipality in Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Town 43 km south-east of Norvalspont and 65 km west of Burgersdorp It was laid out in 1875 ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

. While studying

industrial psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational ...

at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, he had his first performance on 21 October 1992 at a local bar called ''The Terrace''. He started composing his own lyrics, resulting in five songs of his debut album, ''Vreemde Stad''. Theuns attended Volkskool High School in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape. While at school, Std 9 and matric he played music and sang to local patrons at a pizza restaurant/ pub called Trail in. After he completed his studies, Jordaan spent a year as an entrepreneur. In October 1998, he moved from the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

and, after gaining popularity in the city, recorded his debut album, ''Vreemde Stad'', in Stellenbosch. This album was released in 2000 at the ''

Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (Afrikaans for ''Little Karoo National Arts Festival'' and usually abbreviated to ''KKNK'') is an Afrikaans language arts festival that takes place yearly in the South African town of Oudtshoorn. The festival i ...

'' in

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865– ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

released ''Vreemde Stad'' shortly afterwards, and the album surpassed triple platinum status (150,000 copies) in July 2003. He launched his second album, ''Tjailatyd'' at the ''Aardklop'' music festival in 2002, which also sold more than 150,000 records. The South African guitar player, Anton L'Amour, performed with Theuns and was responsible for all the guitar tracks in ''Vreemde Stad'' and ''Tjailatyd''.

Personal life

Jordaan died on 17 November 2021, after being diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in September 2020. He was laid to rest in Pretoria on 26 November 2021.

Music

Jordaan's singing was characterized by his deeply emotive bass voice. His music has been said to be "faintly bluesly, radio-friendly", with his lyrics "infused with a mournful love of South Africa".

Discography

*''Vreemde stad'' (1999) *''Tjailatyd'' (2002) *''Seisoen'' (2005) *''Kouevuur'' (2009) *''Roeper'' (2012) *''Tribute to the poets'' (2014) *''Agter Slot en Grendel (2020)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordaan, Theuns 1971 births 2021 deaths Afrikaner people Afrikaans-language singers People from Walter Sisulu Local Municipality South African people of French descent 21st-century South African male singers Stellenbosch University alumni Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in South Africa