Sun-El Musician

Before he became a name on South African dance charts, Sanele Tresure Sithole was a Mooi River teenager remixing songs and making mixtapes. Born there in 1989 and raised in KwaZulu-Natal, he left the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2007 to chase music full time. Working as Sun-El Musician, he sits within afro house and electronic dance music, a sound his later records have widened with soulful house and organic instrumentation.

His first big break came with Akanamali, featuring Samthing Soweto, released in May 2017, which reached number one on Shazam and went Platinum in South Africa. Africa to the World followed in April 2018 and was also certified Platinum, and at the 24th South African Music Awards the single earned three prizes, including Best Collaboration. A collaboration with Ami Faku, Into Ingawe, reached 3x Platinum in 2019, and To the World & Beyond, released in December 2020, took Platinum status too. His fourth studio album, Under The Sun, arrived on 13 February 2026.