Khaya Mthethwa

Khaya Mthethwa (born 25 November 1987) is a South African singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and a multi-instrumentalist.^[1]

He is best known for winning the 8th season of TV singing competition Idols South Africa, the first black person to have done so.^[2] He is also known as a choir member of the gospel group Joyous Celebration, popular both in South Africa across Africa.^[3]

His passion for music stems from his strong upbringing and the guidance that he received from his religious parents, pastors’ Themba and Lulu Mthethwa.^[4]

In 2012 Khaya appeared on Ntokozo Mbambo’s Filled album, again as a backing vocalist. In 2012, he entered Idols South Africa with the intention of trying out a different genre to enhance his music abilities.^[5] He went on to win the competition.^[6] he won with over 80% of the public votes. In 2013, he participated in another TV competition, The Clash of the Choirs, this time as part of the Kwa-Zulu Natal choir; the group won.^[7][8] Khaya can sing gospel, pop, jazz and R&B, and he is a self-taught musician who can play a keyboard, guitar, drums and percussion. He is also a songwriter and wrote most of the songs in his debut album, For You.

Khaya Mthethwa is a host of Gospel Alive a Gospel TV show that premiered 3 November 2013 on Multichoice DSTV’s Mzansi magic channel, on which he worked with content producer Tebogo Rameetse. In 2015 he was ordained as a pastor. In 2014 he released a live DVD recording titled The Uprising.^[9] in 2016 he released The Dawn, and in 2018 he released Mkhulumsebenzi.