A local singer hopes to sparkle on the international stage when he represents South Africa at the Country Music Awards ceremony in Texas soon.
Gareth James has been nominated in three categories of the Texas Sounds International Country Music Awards – Vocalist of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
The Table View singer will also have to dust off his country boots as he was nominated in six categories at the South African Country Music Awards in Pretoria on 4 October.
Honour
“This is such an absolute honour. This is a ceremony that celebrates independent American style Country Music from 34 different nations and I’m very honoured to be representing South Africa in this prestigious awards ceremony. The ceremony runs over a four-day period from 19 October to 22 October,” he says.
Gareth’s passion for music started at the age of 15 after seeing someone perform live on stage for the first time.
“I immediately knew that being a full-time musician is what I need to be doing. My mom’s side of the family are all church musicians so I grew up with music in my family constantly,” he says.
Although dabbling a bit with drums and bass, his favourite instrument is an acoustic guitar “and I’ve recently been playing with some basics on the keyboard to help with my songwriting and also the production of my music”.
Fundraising
Gareth says he is grabbing this opportunity with both hands, but he is R60 000 short which will cover his flight and living expenses.
“This opportunity to be representing my country in the genre of music that I love so dearly is testament to the year I’ve dedicated to it,” he says.
Gareth has since started a Back-A-Buddy campaign called “Road to Texas Awards Fundraiser”.
“I know times are tough for a lot of South Africans now and understand that it’s a lot to ask of my people so I have this idea in my mind that I don’t want one person to donate the complete R60k,” he says.
if I can ask only 300 South Africans to donate R200 per person to my Back-A-Buddy campaign, that will be more than enough for me to make my 25 year dream come true and make the time, blood, sweat and tears worth every drop,” he says.
For more information, send an email to info@iamgarethjames.co.za
