Toya Delazy (SA)

Jazz-pianist, producer and singer-songwriter Latoya Buthelezi, known as the dynamic jazz-electro-hip-pop phenom Toya Delazy, has made her mark as one of the country's finest performers to break new ground in South Africa's burgeoning music industry. Despite being born into a Zulu royal family, Toya found it very easy to create her own identity within her esteemed heritage. At age 9 she began to train in classical piano, and as the years passed she expanded to jazz piano as well, and attended Howard College's Jazz Programme in 2009. Due to her exposure to all manner of influences, from jazz to classical, electro and hip hop, she combined all of her knowledge to piece together the different nuances, performing around Durban's pubs before successfully being scouted by Sony Music Africa, and thereafter performing at the 2011 Africa Concert in Johannesburg. As her first ever large-scale solo performance, she shared a stage with the legendary Baaba Maal, The Mahotella Queens, Habib Koite and Tumi and The Volume. Toya eventually signed to the record label and saw the release of her debut album entitled Due Drop in April of 2012 raise the bar to fresh, new heights.

The seven-track gold-selling first album included work from the likes of South Africa's most gifted performers and producers, including award-winning producers Jax Panik and Octave Couplet, as well as an intro alongside a capella stars The Soil. Her first single "Pump It On" dominated across the country making Top 10 charts from 5fm to Metro FM and beyond, with the iconic video produced and directed by Star Productions' Tristan Holmes and Adam Thal propelling the track into viral status across Pan-African channels including okayafrica, MTV Base, Trace, Channel O and Vuzu. The "live life to the fullest" concept behind the track prompted Reebok to recruit her as a brand ambassador in 2012, and Legit provided the means for her to produce her own self-styled clothing line, further stretching the extent of her reach.