What Ever Happened to Selwyn?

Selwyn Pretorius is a South African-born R&B artist who had a brief taste of fame in the early 2000s after a number of his singles made their way up the Australian ARIA charts.

The singer came to the public's attention when the then 17-year-old auditioned to compete on the Channel 7 reality series, Popstars. While impressing judges and fans alike on the show, he was ultimately cut from the competition, with judges citing he wasn't a good fit for the group's direction.

While Selwyn may had missed out on a spot in the group that would later be known as Scandal'us, he didn't have too wait long for his big break. Less than a year later, Selwyn signed a deal with Sony, who had much more faith in the youngster than the Popstar judges ever did

Selwyn teamed up with producer Audius Mtawarira to work on his debut album entitled Meant to Be. Mtawarira was an up-and-coming producer, who would later work with the likes of Delta Goodrem, Jessica Mauboy & Shakaya, just to name a few. Also teaming up on the album were producers Paul Begaud, Tod Deeley & Rudy, all of whom had worked with a number of chart topping locals.

Selwyn's debut album Meant to Be was largely considered a hit, with the album receiving Aria Gold accreditation, peaking at #7 on the Australian charts. Two singles off the album also received Aria Gold accreditation. Way Love's Supposed to Be went gold, peaking at #9 on the charts, while Selwyn's cover of Hall & Oates Rich Girl also went Gold. Other tracks including Buggin' Me and Boomin were noted for receiving a generous amount of commercial airplay.

Off this success, Selwyn found himself opening for Destiny's Child in their 2002 Australian tour, alongside Shakaya, a far cry from his job as a trolley boy only a few years earlier.

His 2004 album, 'One Way', sadly did not bring the same success that his debut saw. Despite receiving generally positive reviews, 'One Way' flopped. The album didn't chart and only spawned one single that cracked the top 40.

With this, Sony dropped him from the label and thus effectively ended his music career. Selwyn stated that creative differences ultimately hindered the outcome of the album, and that Sony's merger with BMG caused management issues.

At this point Selwyn's mainstream exposure started to dry up significantly. Despite this, Selwyn kept himself busy by trying his hand at acting, making his debut in the theatrical flop entitled 'Fink!' (also known as Pros and Ex-Cons). The film starring Sam Worthington, saw Selwyn play the role of Rohan, a street smart computer hacker. However, it was panned by critics, and has the lowly IMDB rating of 3.6 out of 10.

As late as 2009, He was doing some small-time gigs here and there. There are quotes from press junkets that he was working on a new album, heading back and forth to America, teaming up with writers and producers. But it appears none of that eventuated in an end product being released.

After that, it's very difficult to come across any information regarding the doings of Selwyn. Yes, he has kids. He has a facebook and a twitter. But despite his low profile in recent times, he's hasn't given up on chasing the dream.

While hardly the dizzying heights he would had hoped, he was last spotted doing a show at a New York based South African restaurant in 2012. That same year he released a music video to a catchy track entitled Not Gonna Let You Go, however, it doesn't appear to be attached to an album. And as late as November 2014, he was in Atlanta, working in the studio with 16-year-old Shun Hendrix.

Selwyn is still a popular figure, if only for his nostalgic value, with some of his songs attracting as many as 500,000 views on Youtube. There are no doubts fans out there who would love a new release from RnB star, all we can do though is wait and see if there's more to come from Selwyn Pretorius.