Ilonka
Ilonka began her professional singing career at age 12 when she won a national singing competition in her native South-Africa. That accomplishment resulted in her first record label deal and launched her into six consecutive years of performances and casino tours.
With a thousand shows under her belt, a young nineteen-year old Ilonka then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue the next chapter of her music story. Her most recent record project (tenth studio album), “To Be Loved”, is a Light Jazz/Adult Contemporary creation on Naxos’ Suite 28 Records that showcases her intimate, yet powerful mezzo-soprano voice, in the same sisterhood as Sarah McLachlan and Celine Dion.
Her tumultuous journey through a childhood music career compelled her to write a tell-all book, “Keeping Secrets”. The book (2016) chronicles the dramatic and abusive life of a young girl surviving the South-African music industry and has propelled her to become a fierce advocate for women facing abuse.
She has shared her story on the Steve Harvey Show and multiple TV networks. She founded a free women’s counseling clinic in Franklin, Tennessee to help women in crisis. She continues to sing and speak, and directs her passions to encourage audiences with her uplifting message.