The moment she walked in wearing skinny jeans and a sequined top her supermodel looks had the male judges in the Idols singing competition so agog they wanted to promote her to the next round on the spot.
Why bother singing? Gorgeous is gorgeous! Or at least that’s what the guys seemed to think when they laid eyes on this beauty.
Said in jest or not, the sentiment didn’t impress Adeline Mocke (22). “It’s a compliment but this is Idols. I wasn’t there to model,” she says at her parents’ home in Lamberts Bay.
So the girl who lives on the West Coast silenced all four judges by letting rip with Black Velvet, her mother’s favourite song.
It was an emotional time for the family. Shortly before Adeline’s audition they received the wonderful news her dad Avril’s colon cancer had finally gone into remission.
Adeline was modelling in India when the diagnosis was made two years ago, mom Carin says. The future looked bleak because the cancer had spread to his liver.
“My mom called to say Dad was going in for a small operation but I know her and I sensed something was wrong.” She managed to get out of her contract and flew back to South Africa.
Carin still didn’t have the courage to tell her daughter the news but when Adeline got home and saw a much thinner version of her father she instantly said, “My dad has cancer.”
Adeline often sings at a local restaurant and people recognised her after her appearance on Idols. “There was this woman who walked past three times looking at me. When I sang Black Velvet she shrieked, ‘You were on Idols!’ She gave me quite a scare.”
“I did modelling first because I didn’t have the courage to tackle a music career. Modelling helped a lot. I’m still very shy but now it’s easier for me to talk to people.”
She would love to make music for everyone, young and old, she says. Canadian Celine Dion is her favourite singer and her inspiration. “She comes from a big family and there wasn’t a lot of money but she followed her dream,” she says. “I believe in hard work. Nothing is free. When you know you’ve worked for something you can feel a little pride.
Read the full article in the YOU of 19 August 2010