Heinz_Winckler

Heinz Winckler

Heinz Carl Heinrich Winckler (born 22 March 1978) was the winner of the first series of South African Idols.

Born the eldest of three children in Stellenbosch, South Africa, he went on to study law at Stellenbosch University. After winning the Idols competition in June 2002, he discontinued his studies to devote time to a music career.

Idols

Idols was the South African version of the British Pop Idol show, and was presented as a talent search competition with successive elimination rounds narrowing the number of contestants. Throughout the show, Winckler was referred to as "Hunky Heinz" because of his good looks.

Songs performed on Idols

Audition: I'm A Believer by (Smashmouth)
Top 50: Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me), by Train
Top 11: I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, by Aerosmith
Top 8: Higher, by Creed
Top 6: Shallow Waters
Top 4: Every Breath You Take, by Sting
Top 4: Soledad, by Westlife
Finale: Once In A Lifetime; Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me), by Train; Soledad, by Westlife

Post-Idols career

Winckler's debut single, Once in a lifetime, went double platinum in South Africa. His subsequent debut album, One step closer, included this song as well as Soledad, a cover of the Westlife song which he performed during Idols, and Next stop happiness, which became a single as well.

He was nominated for two South African Music Awards, including best single for Once In A Lifetime and best pop album for One Step Closer.

In 2003 with the inaugural World Idol competition, Winckler came fourth behind Belgium's Peter Evrard (3rd), the U.S.'s Kelly Clarkson (2nd), and Norway's Kurt Nilsen (Winner).

His second album, Come Alive, was released via BMG, and features more ballads and rhythmic songs. It includes the singles Can't Lose With You and Thank You, as well as I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. Also included are songs written by himself; Drowning Me is a track co-written by him.

He performed Chasing Shadows, the theme song for the South African release of the Disney movie Treasure Planet. Heinz and his wife,Alette, married on September 25th 2006 in South Africa.

In 2006, Heinz returned to the recording studio. He has just finished recording his third studio album titled Moment of Truth and is due for release in September, 2006. The album contains twelve songs:

1. Another Day
2. Wrong
3. Got Me Believing
4. Love's Supposed To Be
5. Runaway Lover
6. Don't Know What I'm Feeling
7. Get Away
8. Love Will Breathe
9. Back Together
10. Do You Feel The Same
11. Moment Of Truth
12. I Do

He is now set to perform as Roger Davis on the Touring Producion of Rent, Jonathan Larson's hit musical, for the 2007-2008 season (check www.siteforrent.com for more details).