WENDY OLDFIELD

Based in George, Garden Route

Wendy first made a name for herself on radio performing the hit This Boy with rock outfit The Sweatband in the early eighties.  After much success with songs like Tonight, Shape of her body, This boy and many years of touring and performing, she left the group to start a solo career.

Her first solo album Beautiful World set the wheels in motion for a succession of hits, including Real World, Acid Rain, Miracle and Don't Stop Believing.  Wendy's vocal performance on the album won her the Octave award (1992) for Best Female Vocalist and a nomination for Song of the Year (Miracle).

She branched out into other areas of composition and arrangement, writing soundtracks for commercials, film and television.  She was nominated for an MNet Film Score Wward in 1995.

Wendy moved into world music with her next album Ruby, mixed by Thapelo Khomo and Leona lbastos.  Shortly after the release, Wendy was asked to sing the South African theme song for the 1996 Olympic album produced by Cedric Samson.  She was also the supporting act for Wet Wet Wet that same year.

A 1998 newspaper survey noted that Wendy was one of the South African artists who had performed in the most live shows, averaging as many as 100 shows per year over fifteen years.  During 1998, she also released Duwayo, which was nominated for an FNB Producer of the Year award.  She supported Simply Red on their tour of South Africa in 1999 and shortly after that released her fourth solo album On a Pale Blue Dot, which won the FNB Pop Album of the Year Award.  She was also nominated for Best Female Vocalist.

Wendy took some time off to dedicate herself to other important aspects of her life.  She got married and had two boys, Luka and Jude.  During this time, she continued to perform regularly with her band and teamed up with sound engineering wizard, Neal Snyman, on a variety of productions, ranging from movie sound tracks to wildlife documentaries with Discoveries – Living with tigers.

Wendy joined world music group Mondetta with Steve Newman, Julia Kim, Gito Baloi and Elad Neeman.  They released their debut album Small World and performed to packed houses at venues around South Africa, including the Oude Libertas Amphitheatre and Womad 2001.  Wendy completed and released her fifth solo album Holy Water toward the end of 2002.  As usual, she outdid herself by writing, performing and producing an uplifting, lyrically inspiring and very beautiful album which lead to a South African Music Award for Best Adult Contemporary.

Wendy recently produced and composed Under African Skies - African stories and songs for children, and Sing Along Africa - new songs for SA children.  Wendy received the SAMA 2009 for best children’s album. She has broken into the world of musical direction and conducted, wrote the choral arrangments for, and musically directed the Old Mutual choral encounter series. She is in the process of recording an album in Rheenendal.  A new album is soon to be released with a collection of 13 of Wendy’s most performed tracks and 2 new bonus tracks - Lilah and Burden, as a sneak preview of what will be out next year on her forthcoming album.

Wendy and her husband Ray have moved to Wilderness are now spending quality time together as a family on the farm they bought.  Wendy is now the proud mom of Luka, Jude and her latest addition, a little girl called Lilah Blu.