In tonight's penultimate episode of The Voice SA Blind Auditions, seven acts made the cut into the four coaches' teams in total, including Caroline-Grace Brüssow – the wife of Springbok rugby player Heinrich Brüssow - who was in the audience cheering her on! Caroline-Grace (28), an attorney from Bloemfontein, flew in for The Voice auditions all the way from Osaka, Japan, where she and Henrich live for six months of the year due to his rugby obligations there.
Her powerful rendition of Céline Dion's "Loved Me Back to Life" landed her a spot on #TeamBobby, so now it looks like rugby will have to take a back seat for her in 2017! "You're such a small lady but with such a huge voice! Well done on pulling off such a massive song," Bobby congratulated Caroline-Grace. This impressive talent from Bloem was the only singer to land on Bobby van Jaarsveld's team tonight, but #TeamKahn scored big, with the Parlotones front man bagging three new acts.
The first performance that made Kahn's ears prick up was that of the second duo of the season, known as "Symphony". Charl Esterhuizen (20) and 27-year-old Christopher Mabasa met one fateful evening when Charl walked into a bar and saw Christopher performing "Footloose" at the karaoke. Charl started singing karaoke with Christopher that night and the rest was history!
The duo has been performing ever since in and around Emalahleni, where Christopher lives with the Esterhuizens as an adopted member of their family. "South Africa needs an act like you," Lira mused after their performance. Luckily for them, South Africa will now be treated to more from this unique brotherly duo, as their rendition of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" secured them a spot on #TeamKahn and a pass into the Battle rounds of the competition.
Kahn Morbee also bagged a big fish tonight after a brilliant performance that warranted four chair turns from all of the coaches. Craig Lucas (24) from Cape Town is a graduate in Economics and Politics at UCT, but despite a promising career ahead of him in the corporate world, Craig has always secretly loved singing.
He made a promise to his mother that he would finish his degree first before starting on a road to music, and boldly took the plunge to come to The Voice SA, despite never having sung in front of so many people before. His blistering version of The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" was so good that the coaches could not stop enthusing about it. "You gripped us from the first note, and just when we thought it couldn't get any better, you just kept taking us higher and higher," raved Lira. Despite desperate pleas from all of the coaches to join their teams, Craig ultimately chose Kahn Morbee – the first coach to turn for him at the start of his song.
The third member to be welcomed into #TeamKahn tonight was also possibly the most surprising and unusual. Christy-Lyn Marais (28) from Bergvliet in Cape Town has been playing musical instruments and singing since she was in primary school, but is a qualified Occupational Therapist who has now decided that her passion for music needs to take priority.
She came to The Voice SA tonight with her harp in tow to perform the haunting ballad "Scarborough Fair" - made famous by Simon and Garfunkel. Coach Kahn instantly heard a classical quality in Christy-Lyn's voice and turned for her. As the rest of the coaches turned after Christy-Lyn's performance, they were all incredibly surprised to see that she was playing the harp while singing! "This is far out, girl!" Karen Zoid exclaimed when she saw Christy-Lyn's harp on the stage, while coach Kahn told Christy-Lyn that he was thrilled to add a classical voice to his eclectic team.
Soulful songstress Lira also added two talent to her team tonight. Full-time musician and voice over artist Spha Mdlalose (28) from Cape Town has never entered a music competition before, but one would never guess that as her calm, confident, jazzy rendition of the Aretha Franklin classic "Say A Little Prayer" was enough to wow the coaches. "I want you. I HAVE to have you on my team," Lira told a clearly elated Spha.
Coach Kahn complimented Spha on the amazing tone of her voice too, but flattery could only get him so far, as Spha picked Lira to be her coach. The second talent to secure themselves a spot on Lira's team tonight was another 28-year-old from Johannesburg. Bryce MacMillan is an audio engineer and DJ whose soulful version of Ne*Yo's "So Sick" was good enough for Lira to press her buzzer almost immediately.