Amapiano star Mr Loner no longer by himself

AMAPIANO artist/vocalist Lesego Daniel Sebidi, known by his stage name Mr Loner, has been making hits – and he’s loving the rise of the genre.

Born and bred in Hebron, Pretoria, Mr Loner’s fondest memory was spending several hours a day listening to music in his early years.

“I was an introvert when I was little, hence, the stage name Mr Loner, but I always knew music was my passion because I really loved it. I enjoyed listening to Black Coffee and would spend hours a day listening to him.”

The up-and-coming artist started making music in 2015 as a producer.

He ventured into the industry as a vocalist in the middle of the pandemic, when many people globally had lost hope and turned to music and social media platforms to keep entertained.

“In 2015 I started Djing in a few clubs. That’s when I came to the realisation of the direction the industry was about to take, and that pushed me to go to where I belonged; behind the mic.”

Although it was a challenging time for him, as he reached out to a bigger audience by trying new marketing skills, like promoting the music with pamphlets in areas where he was not recognised, unfortunately this got so overwhelming and strenuous that he decided to switch back to being a DJ/ producer.

Months later, things started looking up when his Tiktok post got unexpected recognition from mainstream artists such as Major League DJS and Pabi Cooper.

“I was so happy! I couldn’t believe it when Pabi Cooper liked my videos on Tiktok; it gave me hope to continue pushing and doing my best. She is also one artist I would love to work with in the future,” said Mr Loner.

He plans to invest more energy in writing lyrics and recording, “taking the sound from the sheets to the streets”.

His first EP as a vocalist was also received well by fans, and later recognised as the pioneer of the famous social media trend, Remo Mashateng.

In December 2022, he released his first major song that took Mzansi by storm on Tiktok, titled December.

It was produced by Mulest Vankay, and after seeing how South Africans were embracing his music with open arms before 2022 came to an end, Mr Loner teased another single titled Wae Babisa, also produced by Vankay.

By January 1, the song was already viral. It accumulated over 160 000 views on Tiktok. The release gained 211 000 streams on Youtube, and the numbers keep rising.

With his future projects, Mr Loner hopes to become a better artist and work with bigger brands.