IF the mature sound of 13-year old Laina Shivolo’s voice is anything to go by, then she is definitely destined for life in the limelight.

During the Ongwediva Pop Idol competition last Saturday, every jaw in the audience literally dropped when Shivolo belted out her first note of the song ‘No One’ by Alicia Keys.
Her innate talent saw the soft spoken Shivolo scoop first place in the competition, which was dominated by contestants in their mid-20s.
The trophy however, did not come as a surprise to the Grade 8 student from Golden Maggy Primary School, who has been singing since the tender age of nine.
The last born in a family of nine, Shivolo discovered her amazing vocal talent while singing along to the latest radio hits.
“When I’m singing, I feel great inside. One day I want to become a professional singer,” Shivolo said.
According to her siblings, Shivolo has a good ear for music and learns lyrics to songs without any effort.
“She listens to a song once and immediately gets the words,” one of her brothers said.
Even though she was the youngest contestant in the Ongwediva Pop Idol competition, Shivolo is no stranger to singing competitions.
In 2004, she was runner-up at the Eistedfot talent search held in Springbok, South Africa.
The Eistedfot singing competition was open to young Namibian and South African wannabe singers and drew hundreds of contestants that year.
“It meant a lot for me to take a silver medal in that competition because there were so many other talented singers. I plan to take part in many other competitions,” Shivolo said.