It's her season to shine and she couldn't be more grateful.
When South Africans were introduced to her talent on Idols SA during season 16, they fell in love with the confident crooner who seemed destined for greatness.
And even though she bowed out of the show in the top five, it exposed her to the type of people she has always wanted to work with.
She's been able to score big deals and rub shoulders with the who's who in entertainment and it's all thanks to 'God's timing,' she says.
Black Ndoni, real name, Phumzile Mseleku, will be showing the country what she's made of when she performs at this year's Miss SA pageant on 13 August.
When she heard about her selection, it made her heart skip a beat.
“I am so excited because Miss South Africa is such a very big platform, I don’t know how to react to it but I am feeling like one of the chosen ones. It is the same feeling I got when my career started, the time I got a chance to work with the likes of Heavy K etc. It shows how powerful God is, when He says it is time to elevate you, he does exactly that.”
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Ndoni dedicated her time to her music career after she dropped out of her electrical engineering studies. She says this turned out to be the best decision she could ever make because going to Idols changed her life.
“Idols SA made it possible for people who wished to work with me to scout me because before Idols it was hard to send a direct message [DM] to a producer and be like, ‘can I please work with you’ because they also receive so many DMs, so singing on Idols made sure that there are so many people to scout me and it was people who I also wished to work with. It has changed so much, God fulfilled my dreams,” says a grateful Black Ndoni.
She tells us about the story behind her stage name, Black Ndoni. She says it has helped her to become comfortable with being “a dark skinned” woman.
“A person who is called Ndoni is usually someone who is dark skinned but at the same time very beautiful. Ndoni is a black fruit which usually falls into water. That is why there is the saying “Ndoni ya manzi.”
She says she got the name which she loves, from her lecturer while she was at college. It wasn't long before everyone called her Black Ndoni. “I enjoy it, I love it, it makes me feel unique because growing up I used to have a very low self-esteem. There would be kids saying that I am too dark, so it made me feel ugly but now being celebrated as Black Ndoni, that gives me so much strength, I used to hate my skin but now I am confident about it, I love it so much.”
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She comes from a very musical family. Her mother was a backing vocalist and her dad likes playing a guitar and also sings. With a background like that, she was bound to become a force in the music industry.
“My mom used to be a backup singer on a show playing on SABC 1 on Sundays before she passed away when I was 11 years old. My dad sings, and plays a guitar so I can’t tell where the genes [for singing] come from because they both have it,” she says with a laugh.
She's planning on releasing new music this year. "I have a new EP, but we have not confirmed the release date as yet but everything is ready, we have recorded the song, just waiting for the date."
