Paul II Portal

Born in East London EC, Paul spent the first 11 years of his life in EL and attended Selborne Primary School, whereafter the family moved to Queenstown EC where Paul completed his education at Queens College, Queenstown.  Paul has a very soft spot for the Eastern Cape and still regards it as his home. Paul II taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 8 and his passion for music, instruments and singing was born. Early influences ranged from Jim Reeves to Elvis and the Beatles.

Paul was called up for military service in 74 and had a few odd jobs before and after the army. He did his basics in Kimberly/Jan Kempdorp and did various border stints whereafter he graduated as a computer programmer. He married an Eastern Cape girl in ‘78 and had two children, a boy, Jondré, and a girl, Gene. He moved from Queenstown to the West Rand in ’79 where he worked his way up the ranks from programmer and system analyst (later receiving a Masters by correspondence) to ending up as the founder and CEO of the Choiceline Computer Group which was eventually acquired by the Fintech Group. In the late 80’s Paul headed a task team to Taiwan and on his return to SA he was responsible for setting up the very first local PC assembly line facilities in Olifantsfontein for Cullinan Holdings. He later authored and published a book based on the project. As a businessman involved primarily in the computer industry at that time, Paul still found time to play on and off for some fantastic SA bands in the late 70`s and early 80`s before going solo and doing some gigs overseas as well. In the late 80’s he stopped performing for personal reasons. From 1991 to 2003 he went through a very traumatic and painful time in his life. This included the loss of his business, a divorce, the tragic loss of his 21 year old son (Jondré) to a motorcycle accident and, to top it all, being incarcerated for four years! This marked the end of Paul l, so to speak, and the start of a period of rebirth and new beginnings for Paul II.

Having persevered, survived and rebuilt his life by the grace of God, he finally returned to the stage in 2004 as a solo performer calling himself Paul II to mark the new beginning and has once again been rocking South African venues!, His annual Kwazulu Natal/Eastern Cape coastal tour has became so popular that it was eventually extended to include the rest of the Coast and Cape Town itself. In 2008 he met Peggy, dubbing her Peggy II, a name that has stuck. Paul II ‘popped the question’ on stage at a show and in August 2008 they married in a very out of the ordinary ‘surprise’ wedding in the middle of one of his shows at a local venue, shocking the audience. In December 2008 the annual coastal tour doubled up as their belated honeymoon and was named the Paul II 2008 December Honeymoon Tour (with an album of the same name) and was a great success. 2008 also saw the release of two Paul II Live albums consisting of recordings from a series of live performances over a number of years. In May 2009, shortly after the 2008 December Honeymoon Tour, Paul lost his beloved sister Melanie to cancer, but was at least fortunate enough to have spent some time with Melanie a few months prior to her death (during the East London leg of the tour). Paul and Peggy II Have since expanded their entertainment related companies to include an Events and artist management company – Paul II Publicity and Promotions, an entertainment advertising magazine – Go Out Magazine, a recording studio – Bay City Records and an artist development and competition program – Bay City Idols with great success on the East Rand. Bay City Idols came about in 2009 because of Paul II’s passion to assist up and coming artists to develop their skills and careers. Paul II was constantly being asked to judge various competitions and was saddened by the lack of growth and opportunity provided for the contestants. The Bay City Idols competitions (held at various venues) provide a platform for entry into the development program where contestants have access to all sorts of tutorage, benefits and facilities as well as being exposed to big stages and paying audiences via the now well known Bay City Idols Gala evenings. Paul and Peggy II are currently moving their activities and services into the Centurion/Pretoria area due to massive demand. Paul II also still manages to ‘keep his hand in’ with his own IT company, Computer Support Services.

Paul II is an accomplished artist on vocals and guitar. His versatility sees him performing in pubs, clubs, night spots, rallies, resorts, hotels, functions, charity events, and casinos. He is also very much in demand on the corporate scene, having recently performed for amongst others, M-Net and Basil Read Construction. A truly professional performer, his voice is superb on ballads and love songs, whilst powerful and explosive on the up tempo rock and dance music. His friendly and unassuming bohemian manner makes him a hit with all audiences and his very wide repertoire takes him from all the ‘good old greats’ to current day hits. He has been very unhappy with the quality of his previous recordings and is currently re-recording and re-producing most of his previous work in his own studio for release later this year. He is also working on producing and recording the very first album of his own original compositions.

Deeply spiritual, Paul II also sets aside roughly 30 hours per month for charity performances and motivational speaking, drawing on his own life experiences.

Current Location:             Benoni

Website:                              http://www.pauliimusic.co.za

Facebook:                           www.facebook.com/pauliimusician

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Tel:                                       084 479 9074

Email:                                   info@pauliimusic.co.za