Gospel singer takes stage in solo concert

Singer Jonathan Rubain, will perform his first solo gospel concert at GrandWest later this month.

Growing up in a family filled with musicians, it only made sense that Jonathan Rubain pursued a musical career, and later this month you can catch his concert at GrandWest.

The gospel singer grew up in Hanover Park with his parents and younger brother. His father always played music in the house, and Jonathan often went to sleep and woke up to the sounds of gospel music.

In 2010, Jonathan released his first album, Happy People, which quickly became a favourite among jazz lovers.

“I wanted to produce an album which you can play in the car on your way to work and then also on your way back from work,” he says.

Jonathan’s music career started when he was 6, playing drums in a church band.

Playing music, he says, makes him the “happiest person alive”, and it’s taken him to America, Norway, France, Malaysia, and Zimbabwe.

In 2016 he won the Best Male Artist Award at the Victory Gospel Music Awards.

He has organised several music events in Hanover Park, including the Hanover Park Jazz Festival and Hanover Park’s Got Talent, and he has sold more than 10 000 copies of his first album and DVD.

He and four others — Roland Miggels, Alton Zackay, Colin Mitchells and Kurt Coetzee — started an all-male gospel group, Seuns van Sion, about six months ago, which he believes is “The Boyz II Men of gospel.”

“I got the idea to start a boy band because there are no boy bands in gospel anymore… Our sound is Pinkster/Pentecostal. We all grew up in Pentecostal church, and that makes it easy to produce that sound,” he says.

The concert at GrandWest on Sunday August 31 will include the 33-year-oldperformer’soriginal music and popular gospel songs.

“I am making sure the fans will ‘koordans’ all night to the ‘koortjie hits’,” he says.