Rock On

In recent years there has been a slew of US musicians and actors who have built business empires, from will-i-am to Sarah Michelle Gellar. South Africa is no different. Danny K may be working on his next album, but he's also planning to dominate the business landscape. AS TOLD TO NADINE TODD

- Nadine Todd

You may know Danny K from his first hit single Hurts So Bad, or multiple chart toppers since then. If you’re a Makro shopper, you’ve probably seen a local range of electronics, Rocka, with a number of products branded with local musicians. Or perhaps you’ve seen the Sweets from Heaven retail packets, or are a fan of the Good Heart healthy snack range. Well, those are all Danny K too.

Danny K grew up in an entrepreneurial household. He watched his dad sell floor polish door-to-door, and later build the first LG importer in South Africa into a listed business. He launched his own record label and a decade later his first business. He’s known rejection and success. And he knows that if you can face failure and pick yourself up, you can ultimately succeed.

These are his lessons.

Rejection is a matter of opinion.

I only learnt this later, but looking back I can see that I didn’t let someone else’s opinion of me stop me. Opinions are highly subjective. You can’t base everything you do, or choose not to do, on what someone else thinks. I was a white kid trying to do black music at a time when the local music industry didn’t believe there was a place for South African pop and R&B musicians. I started submitting demos when I was 17, and for seven years I was rejected by all the major labels in South Africa. But that was the music I loved. That was who I was. I’m also a pretty tough-nosed person. I don’t like giving up. I had a songwriting partner, and we became the thorn in the side of the labels. We wouldn’t stop pestering them — they hated us. We were young and tenacious.