Simmy (born July 9, 1994, Age: 29 years old) is an EDM (electronic dance music) and neo-soul singer, who took the giant step into the limelight a couple of years ago. Born in 1994, she burst into the South Africa music circle in 2019 and has already been bitten by the fame bug. The past three years have been amazing as she has gained a lot of fame with millions of YouTube views and over 452k Instagram followers.
But it has not been all rosy for the Emakhaya singer. She had some discouragements and failed attempts before finally getting the breakthrough she needed through the help of Sun El Musician, a DJ and record producer. Despite being a private person, we have been able to pick a couple of interesting and noteworthy facts about the beautiful and sensational singer – all of which you will absolutely want to learn about.
Quick Profile Summary Of Simmy
- Name: Simphiwe Nhlangulela
- Year of Birth: 1994
- Place of birth: Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Nationality: South Africa
- Occupation: Singer, songwriter
- Genre: Afro-house, neo-soul, neo-folk
- Record label: El World Music
There Has Been Controversies Surrounding Simmy’s Age
The Ngonile singer’s age has been a source of controversy and there have been several opinions as to what her age actually is. So many news media outlets report 1996 as her year of birth, but she told Apple music in 2018 that she was 24 years old, so that means she was born in 1994 should be 27 years in 2021. Her actual date of birth still remains a mystery.
Simphiwe Nhlangulela who is popularly known by her stage name Simmy was born in Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal, as the last child of four children to strict parents. She revealed this in an interview with Emmanuel Tjiya of the Sowetan Newspaper. While in primary school, Simmy didn’t pay so much attention to music, even though her family members loved music.
Her elder brother was interested in RnB and House music which later inspired her own interest in music. Her father was a fan of Maskandi and country music which was another source of inspiration for the kind of music she now produces.
Being a very private person, Simmy has managed to keep her private life away from the public. To this end, information about her family members, such as her siblings and parents have remained unknown. After high school, Simphiwe went on to further her education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she studied Social Science.
She Got Involved in So Many Competitions But All To No Avail
Although Simmy did not think her voice was so special and didn’t think people would love to hear her sing, she eventually realized that she could actually do music professionally and decided to take a chance on herself.
She started her music career with unsuccessful auditions at both SA’s Got Talents and Idols (South Africa). Auditioning for these two big music competitions and losing out was enough reason for Simmy to give up on starting a career in music, but she didn’t.
Her breakthrough came while she was in the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she met Sun-El Musician, a record producer, through the help of his younger brother in 2013. He asked her to sing for him, which she did, and he offered her a chance to do a song with him, but she declined, requesting to first round up her studies before recording music.
After her studies, she moved to Johannesburg to pursue a career in music and was signed to El World Music record label. Her debut album was a major hit and shot her into the limelight.
Simmy Released Her Debut Album In 2017 At The Age Of 23
Simphiwe Nhlangulela got lucky on her very first album “Tugela Fairy” as it was featured in Apple Music Artist Spotlight. Most of the tracks in the album have gotten over 500k views on YouTube, with a couple of them reaching one million views.
Her single Ngiyesaba has featured on Trace Top 30 Charts for two straight weeks. The official videos which were uploaded in August 2019, have gotten over 4 million views in less than two years.
Her second album, “Tugela Fairy (Made Of Stars)” which was released in 2020 has also done well, with the hit track Ngihamba Nawe featured on top 100 airplay charts. Most of the songs on this album have over 100k views on YouTube.
Her successful tracks have earned her spots in several concerts and events. On Spotify, the delectable singer has amassed up to 2.6 million streams with 542.5k listeners from 92 different countries.
According to Simmy, at the start of her career, she was very shy and was not used to stage performances, but over the years, she has developed confidence, and can now perform before a crowd fearlessly.
The Single, Emakhaya Was A Big Hit For Simmy
Following the success of her debut album and Tugela Fairy (Made Of Stars), Simmy released a sensational single titled Emakhaya, featuring Da Capo and Sun El Musician. This single was a big hit. Emakhaya is not just available on all streaming platforms, it has totally blown listeners away.
The hit track is just perfect for a slow dance, which makes it a nice idea for summer parties, and Sun El Musician and Da Capo did justice to the song. In about six months of releasing the official video on YouTube, Emakhaya already has over 2.2 million views and the official audio has over 600k plays.
The success of Emakhaya has not just increased Simmy’s fame, but it has also added more money to her bank account. With the success she has gotten from the music industry in three years, we can tell that there is so much to expect from her.
She looks forward to doing music with some of the big names in the music industry like Letta Mbulu, Thandiswa Mazwai, Sjava, and diva Dolly Parton. Who says she cant achieve her goals with the way she has taken off?
Here is a list of some of her songs so far
- Ngiyesaba – 2018
- My light – 2020
- Nawe – 2018
- Uhlale Wazi – 2020
- Ubala – 2018
- Ngihamba Nawe – 2020
- We were here – 2020
- Ngonile – 2018
- Angimale – 2020
- Wamuhle – 2020
- Emakhaya – 2020
Simmy Is Also An Award-winning Artist
Since Simmy came into the limelight in 2018, she has not just gotten famous and richer, she has also bagged a good number of awards. Leaving the 25th SAMA Award in 2019 with three different awards made her a decorated artist. She won the award of Newcomer of the Year, Best Afro Pop Album, and helped her record label win the award of Record of the Year.
At the South African Dance Music Awards, the sensational neo-soul, afro-house, neo-folk music artist won the award of Best Female Vocalist. This is obviously so much achievement in just three years.
Simmy is a very private person, as such, most of the information the media have about her is career-related, nothing is known about her love life so far. Hopefully, all that and many more will be revealed in time.
