Danine Naidoo leaves the world of PR and TV Presenting, for a while, to chase her childhood dream of being a singer / song-writer and performance artist and today she took the giant leap of faith, career-wise, to pursue her core dream of being a singer.
She admits to being a “musical and singing closet case.” Until recently, that passion has overridden her love in her other two successful callings.
“I will always celebrate and be grateful for the multiple ways that TV Presenting and PR helped me navigate a network toward a music cross-over. For so many years I represented others and had to throw my ears to their creations in the music world. Little did they know I was yearning to be an artist myself,” says Danine.
Danine grew up in a home where music was always on high rotation, often placed right next to the speaker in her baby chair, and was in the company of an uncle who is a professional jazz drummer. In early 2016, while visiting her hometown of Cape Town and attending a resident gig by The Alvin Dyers Trio, which her jazz muso uncle is part of, Danine was persuaded to join them on stage for a spontaneous rendition of Alicia Keys – If I Ain’t Got You. It was a rush she will never forget. Out came the cellphones and their video cameras. It was clear, there was a voice. Later that night, Danine was given a title of encouragement by Alvin Dyers himself as, “The Singing Presenter!”
It stuck with her and was the start of an itch she had long been wanting to scratch.
The first single, Rock Me, is an old familiar retro inspired sound produced by “King B” aka Nathan Redpath. The music collab came about after the two met at an industry party where Nathan had played a DJ set, Danine then followed him on social media only to find out he was a producer too. After a follow up meeting, a clear synergy was present and the enthusiasm to work together became a reality. “We went through his beat-making archives and I identified a few that really made me lose my mind. I took them away for some song-writing and harmony touches of my own and Rock Me was born,” says Danine.
Another twist of fate came from Danine’s sweet tooth and obsession with the Cadbury’s 5 Star chocolate. After doing an influencer campaign for Cadbury’s earlier this year, she took a chance and sent the song and music video concept to the team. It was given a thumbs up by the brand and 5 Star can be seen in the music video, filmed at BOUNCE Fourways Mall featuring “squad” cameos by Mika Stefano and Meryl Collins. The music video is a sassy and old school ball of fun executed as a collab between Marius van Wyk (DOP/Editor) and Gideon le Roux (Director) from Black Mushroom Media.
“When Danine approached us to feature the delicious Cadbury 5Star in her latest music video we jumped at the chance. Not only do we love Danines new song, but her fun playful character is perfect for our brand’s target audience, says Grant van Niekerk, Mondelez SA Category Lead for Chocolate.
Rock Me is available for download on Google Play, iTunes and most major digital download platforms.
Show love for the debut single by using #DanineRockMe on social media.
