Amapiano star Sipho Mbonambi has made it against all odds after managing to pass his matric while pursuing his music career.
Mbonambi, popularly known as Mfana kah Gogo, says balancing music, fame and school was possible because his managers made sure that during the week he focuses on his studies.
“When the time for the final exams came, weekends were also dedicated to my studies and I had to cancel certain gigs so that I would focus more on my schoolwork but did not neglect my music career,” says Mbonambi.
His rise to fame came as a shock to him because he never thought he would get a chance to do music.
The 18-year-old viral sensation first shot to fame and gained popularity through his videos on social media.
His fame led to the successful release debut single Jabula and he closed off 2021 with motivational track Hla’ethembeni.
Some of the challenges that he faced was when he had to go to gigs on a Sunday and on Monday he would have to be in class. At other times he had to be in between home and Johannesburg doing interviews and he was not used to a lot of things that come with being in the entertainment industry.
The Jabula hit maker encouraged other young aspiring artists who are still in school to persevere despite people’s opinions on whether they would be able to balance school and music.
“For me I focused on my studies because I knew that my music career would still be there, even after I had completed my matric.”
Mbonambi grew up in eMangangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, under the guidance of his grandmother.
His grandmother and mother have played a big role in his music career because they would give him money to go to studio to record his songs.
They invested in him although they did not see any progress for their investment at the time.
“I am currently building a house for my mother to thank her for everything that she has done for my sisters and me.
“The house that we had before was too small and my mother was against me building the house because I am very young but eventually she accepted.”
This year, the singer plans on focusing more on his music career because that has always been his dream and try to further his studies at a higher level.
“I will be releasing my album this year and I want people to hear my talent.
“I have been working very hard on my upcoming album.”
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