Background
Born May 31, 1979 in the township of Atteridgeville, Pretoria but grew up in the township of Mamelodi, Pretoria.
Born May 31, 1979 in the township of Atteridgeville, Pretoria but grew up in the township of Mamelodi, Pretoria.
When she completed her vocal studies at the music college of the University of Cape, a recording contract from a major South African music record label was already offered to her but she turned it down.
By 1997 she had already been performing in Johannesburg downtown. Realizing her passion for singing, Tutu went on to study jazz vocals at the University of Cape Town with Jelena Reveshin and Virginia Davids. She accepted a greater opportunity offered by Dutch pianist Jack van Poll – who was living and teaching in Cape Town at the time – to go and study in Europe and enhance her career as a jazz vocalist and a performer.
In 2002 September, Tutu moved to Europe and stayed in The Netherlands studying further for almost two years at the royal conservatory of The Hague (Netherlands) with Rachel Gould.
She then relocated to Antwerp in Belgium, her current home where she’s working steadily on her career. Both albums were received very well internationally which led to Mission Puoane’s receiving an invite from the Brussels Jazz Orchestra to work with them.
The musical journey between Tutu and Brussels Jazz Orchestra resulted in to a creation of an album titled “mama Africa” celebrating the Music Icon Miriam Makeba. This album scored them a Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency for Best Traditional Jazz Album of 2011.
Tutu’s musical journey has landed all over the world in countries like Italy, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Luxemburg, Switzerland and United States of America.