Background
Tonks was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1992.
Tonks was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1992.
Tonks attended the pre-auditions for the second series of New Zealand reality show in Christchurch in November 2014 and advanced though to the judges auditions.
In the boys category he was mentored by Natalie Bassingthwaite, and before that by Natalia Kills
Prior to auditioning for, he was a performing arts student at the Southern Institute of Technology. Tonks cites Sia, Jeff Buckley and Michael Jackson as his main musical influences. Tonks performed the U2 song "I Still Haven"t Foundation What I"m Looking Foreign" at his audition and received positive feedback from all four judges who advanced him through to bootcamp.
He sang "Jealous" for the "Six Chair Challenge" at bootcamp and progressed through to judges retreats with mentor Natalia Kills and then by Natalie Bassingthwaite after Kills was fired from the show.
He then sang his version of "Recovery" at judges retrears causing then mentor Natalia Kills to cry. He soon advanced to the live shows as one of the Top 13.
His week one cover of "Young and Beautiful" reached Number.5 in the New Zealand artists" singles chart, and his week four cover of "Crazy" also reached Number. 5 in the same chart. Tonks found himself in the bottom two in Week 7 after his performance of "Billie Jean" failed to impress.
He sang "Grenade" in the final showdown against Lili Bayliss and was saved by the judges with only Stan Walker voting to send him home.
Tonks found himself in the bottom two again in week 8 against Steve Broad. He was again saved by the judges with only Melanie Blatt voting to send him home. Tonks was eliminated in the final showdown with Brendon Thomas and the Vibes, and only mentor Natalie Bassingthwaighte voting to keep him.
Performances on
After his stint on, Stevie was quickly snatched up by Christian music label Parachute Music.
He has performed many solo gigs around the country, as well as being involved with bigger events. Stevie also occasionally leads worship at his church.
Stevie recently performed at the Christian music festival, Festival One at Mystery Creek Events Centre, alongside notable names such as Bethel Music, Ike Ndolo, Newfoundland, Young Lyre, All Sons & Daughters and more. He has released one song since his elimination from He collaborated with Majestic Church"s worship team based in Christchurch, New Zealand to release I Will Rise, which featured in Majestic Sounds Like"s latest album, alongside other former X Factor voices in the Christian music world such as Rory Mckenna, featuring on their song, Stars.