Soul singer Fagrie Isaacs is set to headline Here and Now – A Luther Vandross Tribute Show at the Artscape Theatre on Friday 26 June and Saturday 27 June.

The production, which has previously sold out in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, is musically directed by award-winning maestro Charlton Daniels.

Roots in music, community and culture

Isaacs’s love of music began long before the spotlight found him. He started singing in his school choir in 1987, at just six years old, and says music has been the defining thread of his life ever since.

“I’ve always wanted to be a performer. I’ve always wanted to make music,” he says. “Music saved me.”

Born and raised in Strandfontein, Isaacs said he grew up immersed in Cape Malay culture, of which is deeply proud. He has taken part in the Malay Choir competition since childhood and has competed as a solo artist in the Kaapse Klopse from 1996. He now holds the record for the most first prizes in the Coon Song category – 26 in all – more than any other performer in history.

Music, he says, also kept him off a far darker path.

“A lot of my friends and school friends have gone off the track, you know – gangsters and drugs and so forth. Music was my saving grace.”

A family steeped in talent

Isaacs is married and a proud father and it seems the musical gene runs strong in his household. All three of his children can sing.

His second eldest daughter has performed on stage with him and has a passion for theatre. His eldest daughter is at university studying film and media, while his son, who is still at school, is still weighing up his options – torn between a career in singing or rapping.

Though they each walk their own path, Isaacs makes no secret of his delight in a family that shares his love of the arts.

He is also careful to protect his family’s privacy. He is happy to stop and take photos with fans when he is out – “I always have that love and respect for my followers” – but keeps his home life out of the public eye.

From boy band to global stages

Isaacs made his solo debut at the Joseph Stone in Cape Town in 1993 and has since performed on stages across the world.

He joined The Boyz – which he described as South Africa’s biggest boy band – at the start of 1999.

“I spent 20 years of my life with the Boyz,” he said and described their first hit Stay the Night as the “unofficial anthem of Cape Town.”

He went on to front Unity, an Islamic gospel group, touring the United Kingdom in 2015 and performing at five consecutive headline shows at Durban’s Al Ansaar Souk.

In 2014, he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York as part of the South African Ubuntu Festival. He is also the lead male vocalist on the celebrated Cape Carnival album and has shared the stage with international acts Peaches and Herb and Atlantic Starr, at Cape Town’s GrandWest Arena.

His 2025 single, “The Cape Town Song”, was endorsed by Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and this year he released a new single, “Come Back Home Soon”.

A show already proven to sell out

Here and Now – A Luther Vandross Tribute Show runs at the Artscape Theatre, Cape Town, on Friday 26 June and Saturday 27 June 2026.

For more information, contact info@fagrieisaacs.com or call 076 866 9767.

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