Lize the complete package
"I just cried. I worked so hard on my singing and had to have a voice operation in April - so I couldn't sing for six weeks. I have been practising my songs since August," says the newly crowned winner of the Voice of Namibia (VoN) singing competition, Lize Visser."I've been singing all my life. I know it sounds like a cliché, but I remember singing a song from Lady and the Tramp when I was little on the farm. My mother then told me that I should sing on note, but I was still too young to understand what that meant," she says.
Lize says that she always learned songs from her favourite movies, such as The Little Mermaid, from childhood.
In 2010, Lize, then 10, took part in the Solis vir Christus singing competition. Despite finishing second, she still landed a record deal and released an album with five songs.
More than a decade later, in 2022, Lize won second place again - this time in the local VoN singing competition.
"I wasn't sad or angry because JR deserved it. I was just grateful that I ended second because sometimes I wasn't sure if I would even make the top ten," said Lize about her experience at last year's competition.
Since then she has focused on her singing and her stage skills. "I focused a little more on microphone technique - you can't just go and sing. I learned that you have to show emotion and make a full-fledged performance out of it,'' Lize says
Apart from her passion for music, children also have a special place in Lize's heart. She previously worked at Busy Brains Preschool. Now she helps teach babies and young children about water safety at the Kiddies Aqua in Otjiwarongo, where she currently lives.
One of Lize's future dreams is to bring her passion for music and children together to set up a music school for children.
Family
Lize says her mother's contribution to her life, who died of cancer in 2017, was invaluable. "My mother always told me that you make your circumstances, your circumstances don't make you," she says.
She believes her mother's cancer battle taught her and her two younger siblings emotional resilience. "My mother never got angry. She handled her illness with peace and calm. We all knew that she was suffering, but you could never see it," says Lize.
"Patricia [Coetzee] took the lead at first, but Lize sang her heart out in the final round," said the owner of VoN, Alinda Lu'Mar.
Patricia won second place at this year's VoN with Bernadine Goliath finishing third.
"There was a lot of talent and Lize worked so hard. I think now is her time and her turn. She absolutely deserves it - she has a beautiful heart and she is so humble," Alinda says of Lize's victory, adding that Lize has several qualities that will make her the perfect VoN ambassador.
"She has such a beautiful personality and she always wants to listen. She is also creative - she not only sings, she plays the guitar and the ukelele. She is the complete package," Alinda concludes. – [email protected]