Juanita du Plessis

Since emerging in the late 1990s, Afrikaans performer Juanita du Plessis has ranked among Africa’s top-selling recording artists, achieving repeated platinum status in both her native Namibia and adopted homeland of South Africa through a blend of adult-contemporary pop, gospel, country-pop, and dance material. The country-tinged Juanita (also issued as Young Hearts or The Debut Album) marked her 1998 entry and immediately registered as both a critical and commercial success, initiating a run of more than a dozen consecutive platinum albums. From the 2001 follow-up Ek en Jy she extracted the dance-pop hit “Ska-Rumba,” while the 2004 set Altijd Daar produced further chart traction with its faith-based material. Continued strong sales marked the early 2010s, encompassing two collaborative albums with singer/songwriter Theuns Jordaan alongside the chart-topping gospel project Wees Lig in 2010 and the country effort Nashville, which reached number two in South Africa in 2014. The 2017 release Kaalvoetkinners placed her alongside her children Franja du Plessis and Ruan Josh, each already established recording artists. Following the 20th-anniversary hits package 20 Jaar: Treffers van 2008–2018, she returned to number one on the South African album chart with her sixteenth studio album, 2020’s Dis Tyd.

Juanita Naudé was born in Windhoek, Namibia, in 1972 and grew up in a musical household that included her older brother, singer and songwriter Pieter Naudé. She wed Herman du Plessis in 1989 and subsequently relocated to South Africa.

The singer/songwriter began her recording career in 1998 with the album Juanita, an immediate success that earned multiple Country Music Association honors in Namibia, among them best singer and best songwriter. She followed with the multi-platinum Ek en Jy in 2001, which yielded the African dance anthem “Ska-Rumba.” Issuing material on her own Juanita Records imprint and sustaining her platinum streak, she released Dis Waar Ek Wil Wees in 2002 and Jy Is… the next year.

In 2004 du Plessis explored country-gospel territory with Altijd Daar, another multi-platinum seller. The same status greeted the 2007 studio album Volmaakte Kring and the concurrent gospel collection Vlieg Hoog (Gospel, Vol. 2). Two further 2008 projects arrived: Jou Skaduwee and the retrospective 10 Jaar Platinum Treffers.

Entering the new decade with undiminished popularity, she issued three charting albums in 2010—the live collaboration Bring Jou Hart with Theuns Jordaan plus the studio sets Bly by My and Engel van My Hart. Wees Lig (Gospel, Vol. 3) topped the South African chart in 2011. A second joint album with Jordaan, Hart Vol Drome, appeared in 2012 alongside the Top-Three release Hy Voltooi My. She improved one position on the national album tally with 2014’s Nashville, then issued the compilation Country Hart and the Top-Ten studio album Toe Staan die Wêreld Stil, both in 2015. Koningskind (Gospel, Vol. 4) returned her to the Top Ten in 2017.

During this period her daughter Franja du Plessis and son Ruan, performing as Ruan Josh, each launched independent recording careers. The three family members united for the December 2017 trio album Kaalvoetkinners. Juanita’s 20 Jaar: Treffers van 2008–2018 arrived the following year, and she reclaimed the top spot on the South African album chart with 2020’s Dis Tyd.