Music

The Greatest Love of All - A tribute to Whitney Houston

Born 1976, Belinda Davids started life in the small coastal town of Port Elizabeth in South Africa, where her musical family of seven children spent much of its time in church, singing and surrounded by gospel music. Enduring youth as a ‘coloured’ girl in a difficult, apartheid-ridden South Africa, Belinda found solace and empowerment in music - it was an equalizer, of sorts, for someone so devoid of equality in her life and surroundings, an expression and a pastime that needed no resources, no special education, no permissions, just her own God-given voice.

Sunday, April 16, 2023

At 20:00

The Tivoli Concert Hall

Her talent was glaringly apparent from an early age. Still to this day she has never had vocal training and is blessed with a 4-octave vocal range, putting her in the company of such vocal luminaries as Minnie Riperton, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Freddie Mercury. She began performing professionally at just 14 years of age and became technically adept at many genres but her true love has always been R&B; her childhood inspirations included Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson and of course the one artist who has had the biggest impact on her life - Whitney Houston.

In the mid 90’s Belinda caught the eye of record executives at Tusk Records and they worked together on the eponymous original album Belinda Davids. Three of the songs on this album, which Belinda also wrote, were released as singles: ‘This I Swear’, ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘We Go Together’. The latter was number one on the RiSA charts in South Africa for six weeks.

Belinda promoted her album all over South Africa for a number of years at various hotels, clubs & cabarets. She was the opening act for many international artists when they visited South Africa including Michael Jackson’s History tour, The Manhattans, The Temptations and Peaches and Herbs.

Shortly after however, in 2013, fate knocked. John Van Grinsven, creator and producer of Showtime Australia’s The Greatest Love of All, was on his final round of global auditions to find a star for the new production and Belinda managed to nab a last-minute audition. What had once been a hindrance for her was now a blessing - Belinda beat almost 15,000 other hopefuls to take the marquee role.

Touring began almost immediately and demand has grown exponentially ever since. The show has now performed across much of the globe including the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa.