Melanie Lowe

Melanie was born into a family of singers, in Durban.

Life "before Idols" saw Melanie perform both solo and in various bands in Durban and for a short while in London, performing at music festivals, clubs and corporate gigs.

Shortly after her arrival in Johannesburg, she met sound engineer and music producer, Mike Varalla. After hearing her music, he expressed his desire to record her songs and put together a demo CD with which they could approach radio stations and record companies. The two also performed at private corporate functions.

At the end of 2001, Melanie was offered a job in Cape Town, which she decided to accept. A week after packing up and heading off to Cape Town, she received a phone call from the "Idols" organisers asking her to come in for an audition. With her new company's permission, she attended three auditions upon the understanding that, if she made it through, they would have to discuss further options. She did make it through all three auditions and subsequently had to give up her new job due to the fact that no-one was sure what was going to happen. Melanie proceeded to go through many more auditions successfully and, by a strange twist of fate, became the 11th Idol. She went on to become 2nd runner up of Idols 2002.

Since Idols ended Melanie has spent the last few months doing a variety of gigs from corporate functions to music festivals throughout South Africa, even venturing out of the country to Cairo, where she performed in a 5 star hotel at a restaurant for a month. In October 2002, she released a CD single called Every Single Thing. The title track soared up the charts on a variety of radio stations and the single is currently sitting at no. 5 on the musica charts. The CD has three songs on it including a song composed by her, which has just been released to radio. She has appeared on several TV shows including Jerry Springer and Felicia. She also performed at the prestigious "Miss South Africa" pageant 2002.

Mel and Ezra Lingeveldt co-wrote and performed the theme song for Big Brother 2, Cabin Fever, which has just been nominated for a SAMA award. The song also charted on radio stations around South Africa. Melanie is very involved in a number of charities close to her heart, namely children and elderly folk. She is also frequently asked to give motivational talks at various schools and churches. During Idols her fans formed a fan club of their own accord which is still existing and which plays a very active role in her career. Visit her site at http://groups.msn.com/MLFC/home.

Melanie is currently involved in putting a show together with fellow Idol, Ezra Lingeveldt that will be showcased at Gold Reef City's Back of the Moon. Plans for the future include a full album consisting of songs written by Melanie. She plans to continue singing and to reach as many people as she can with her music, to continue making a difference using the opportunity given her by her Idols fame and to always "live the music".