Being born in a Kenyan refugee camp may sound confronting to some, but for Australian Idol contestant Bony, it’s a place that brings back fond memories.
“I didn’t know a world outside that camp,” Bony, 25, tells TV WEEK. “Being a kid, it felt free. I had my brother with me all the time, I was a delinquent, it was my domain.”
Bony, who’s known for his unique style, heavily incorporating autotune, tragically lost his brother to muscular dystrophy in 2019. It was a terrible experience that, fortunately, had a silver lining.
“It brought us closer together as a family. It was a hard loss and, to this day, we feel it,” the traffic controller from Brisbane, Queensland, says. “But, after he passed, I realised life is too short and I went headfirst into the music game.”
When Bony showed up to audition for the 10th season of Australian Idol, he was rejected by judges Marcia Hines and Amy Shark. Luckily for him, Kyle Sandilands saw something special in him and brought him back as a wildcard in Top 30 week – making it a Top 31.
For Bony, who is now through to the Top 10, he has proved everyone wrong – something he’s come up against before plenty of times in his life.
“Amy even apologised to me,” Bony recalls. “But I’m used to it. I’m usually the underdog, but it feels really good to finally have people see your truth.”
So where does he get that tenacity to keep getting up even when he’s been knocked down?
“Call it self belief,” Bony declares. “I don’t like being told I can’t do something. I will lose until I win. And I want to win because I want to help my mum. I’m in the process of giving her the world, slowly but surely.”
As the competition gets tighter, Bony will have to bring everything he has to his next performance if we wants to make it further in this year’s Australian Idol. Does he have what it takes when he’s watched others fall around him?
We’ll be watching this week’s episodes to find out!
Australian Idol airs Monday and Tuesday, 7.30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, Channel Seven
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
.jpg?resize=380%2C285)
Native ad body.
