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On Tuesday night (2 November) Elvis Blue took the Idols 6 title in a tight showdown between himself and L'loyd Cele.

After the votes had been counted and the winner revealed, Elvis announced a series first: that he'll be sharing the cash prize with L'loyd.

Here's what he had to say after the action of it:

Tashi: My theory is that all guys who become pop stars do it to get girls. I bet you're really sorry that you've got a wife now?
Elvis: You know what, when I was 16 I worked at the Spur and I was such a bad waiter that they made me Chico the clown. When you're 16 you really want girls so that's when I started playing guitar, so your theory is absolutely correct.

Tashi: Yay - I knew it.
Elvis: I started playing guitar for one reason and one reason only: to get girls. But uh ... I don't do that anymore *laughs*

Tashi: Oh, so that's what you're telling us.
Elvis: That's all over.


Tashi: Is that how you got your wife?
Elvis: I think it might have had something to do with it. Now I just play to keep her.

Tashi: How did you meet?
Elvis: We actually met through some friends and I really liked her from the moment I saw her.

Tashi: Did you play for her?
Elvis: She actually came to one of my gigs, and think maybe the stage and the lights and the extra band members around me really helped. It boosted my points, so I was very lucky.

Tashi: What sort of album are you planning on releasing? Will it be soul ballads? Pop? Rock? Songs from the show?
Elvis: I'm looking forward to releasing an album filled with original music. The style of music would probably be acoustic/adult/contemporary/rock kind of vibe. Nothing too loud.

Tashi: Have you written the songs already?
Elvis: Ja, yes, I've actually put a lot of stuff together. I haven't had a meeting with the record company yet but we'll probably be meeting today and I'm looking forward to that.

Tashi: The single you've just released will also be on the album?
Elvis: Definitely - it's not original, it's part of the show, chosen by the record company for us but from now on it's kind of our own thing and we need to work with the record company to make sure it sounds good.

Tashi: Will there be a collaboration with L'loyd on it?
Elvis: I think there will be, yes.

Tashi: Onto the agreement about sharing the prize. How did it happen? Why? When? Where?
Elvis: About a week ago, I think in one day, three people made a joke about it and then what happened was, that evening, we all had dinner together and one of the Top 10 contestants, Jess, actually also said something about it.

She also made a joke about it and then, me and L'loyd just looked at each other and we were thinking: "Mmmm, man, this is weird, three people in one day, saying the same thing.

We started thinking about it and started chatting and we both just felt, you know, any one of us could win this thing and any one of us could lose.

Neither of us felt: "I'm definitely going to win," or "I'm definitely going to lose," so we thought it would be a wise thing, instead of taking a chance on R500 000 and maybe not getting it, why not just be guaranteed of R250 000.

We both chatted to our wives about it and you know we both just felt it was the right thing to do. The wives obviously agreed.


Tashi: Why haven't you entered previous seasons of the show?
Elvis: You know what, I've always watched the show and I've always been a full-time musician. I've always had this idea that my break is just around the corner.

I didn't think my break was going to be Idols, I thought it would be something else so I was always working on "This is my new project," "This is what I'm doing now," "This is what's gonna happen," and then it doesn't happen.

 Then you've immediately got another thing. "I'm gonna record this," "I'm gonna do this and this song is gonna work on radio," and then it doesn't happen.

That went on for about 10 years, since I was 20, and now I'm 30 and I just realised: "Listen, this is it. Nothing has happened so far, if you want something to happen you're gonna have to make it happen and maybe Idols is the platform,"and then I started seriously considering it. That's why I entered.

Tashi: I think a lot of the time musicians, particularly those who write their own music, think that Idols: "Oh, it's not the competition for me."
Elvis: Exactly, you know I had to think long and hard before I entered and just stick my pride in my pocket and my attitude in my pocket and realise that I want to make music for a living and I've been trying that and I haven't succeeded. If I want to succeed I have to try something different.

That's why I just thought, the best way to do that would be to enter Idols and maybe go somewhere with it.

Tashi: Will you be relocating to Jozi now?
Elvis: You know what, me and my wife, we've chatted about it a few times and we haven't made our decision really. We thought about it and we also realised that you need a good airport where you are and there's many good airports in the Western Cape so we're still going to have a chat about it and decide.

Tashi: Do you want to move?
Elvis: No, I love where I live. I love my town, I love George, I love the ocean and I love surfing *laughs*. They've got the wet and wild in Boksburg.

Tashi: With one wave!
Elvis: With one wave. Obviously there's a lot that happens in Jo'burg and it is the place for music to be but on the other hand there are so many great, great bands I can think of, like Freshlyground, who aren’t based in Jo'burg. There's two sides of it so we're gonna think about it.

Tashi: Your students have obviously enjoyed seeing you on the show - will you go back to teach?
Elvis: It's been so cool hey. What I think I'm going to do - I don't think I'll have time to go back to teaching but I don't want the project that we've started to stop. Some of the students that I've taught are actually capable of teaching themselves so they can become teachers.

I think that'll be a cool way to do the project so that once the kids have done the project they qualify to teach as well and then I want to make sure they get paid for it so it's job creation as well as teaching lots of kids.

Tashi: Which international act would you most like to open for?
Elvis: There's only one hey, U2.

Tashi: Yes, now they're coming here.
Elvis: The other one would be, one of my favourite artists of all time is Bruce Springsteen. I so wish he would come here one day.

Tashi: What's been the most life-changing thing about being on the show? One thing that you'd say is the max?
Elvis: It's going to sound funny but I think Tuesday night was probably the one, and then my first audition. You know, before I went for that audition, I spent four years in George, not really making music for anyone other than my students.

Just being kind of quiet and writing and just playing music very quietly in George. I didn't really think it was going to go that well, and it really went well. It was the start of a new thing in my life and it was great moment for me.

Ends

Related links:

A catch-up with L'loyd Cele.

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