Spreading God's Love

He’s a trained medical doctor but gospel singer DrTumi has always wanted to heal people through music 

- Khosi Biyela

HIS critics said he wouldn’t go far – contemporary gospel music doesn’t sell well, they said, and many record labels agreed, turning him away when he was starting out with a song on his lips and hope in his heart.

But Tumisang Makweya, better known to millions of fans as Dr Tumi, proved the prophets of doom wrong.

He had faith and belief in himself and against the odds he accomplished what many thought was an impossible task for a gospel crooner: he recently filled the 20 000-seater Ticketpro Dome to capacity, the only African artist to have done so since Cassper Nyovest performed there amid much fanfare in 2015.

It’s a feat all the more remarkable as Dr Tumi, who started his music career as part of the gospel group Intense, branched out on his own a year ago.

In just over 12 months he has won 13 awards, his debut album Love & Grace has gone double platinum and he’s set to go global, thanks to a deal with Universal Music that will see his music released around the world.

Dr Tumi – who’s also a trained medical doctor – says becoming a musician was his ultimate dream. And he’s now officially hit the big time.

The Gathering of Worshippers, his sold-out show at the Dome, was supposed to have taken place only in August 2018, he reveals to us.

“But one day I thought, ‘Why wait for next year when I can do it now?’” So he got to work and it took only a month to plan and execute the concert.

“The most important part was to fill the Dome. If it didn’t fill up I was going to feel the mission was not accomplished. It would not have been the same,” he says.

Once word of the concert was out, there was no turning back. Ten days before the show, he was notified by the box office that 400 tickets were being sold daily.