Nathalie Makoma
Nathalie Makoma (born February 24, 1982), is a Congolese Dutch singer-songwriter. She was the lead singer for the group Makoma and she later embarked on a solo musical career on her own. She took part in the Dutch "Idols" singing competition in its fourth season reaching the final and finishing as runner-up to Nikki Kerkhof. As a result, she was signed to Sony BMG. She also took part in Dutch "Dancing With the Stars" coming second (2009), in "De Mattheus Masterclass". Career. In Nouveau Testament / Makoma Nathalie Makoma started singing with her family group in 1993  when the band was known as "Nouveau Testament". The group was renamed Makoma and was made up of seven members (three brothers, three sisters and one non-family, whom is also one of her sister's boyfriend). They were very successful singing in Lingala language and in English and French as well. When Nathalie was fourteen, she moved back to the Netherlands with her family and started studying Onstage Performance at the Rockacademie in Tilburg. At the same time the Makoma band kept on performing becoming more successful and travelling around the whole world. Due to the success of the  band, Nathalie had to quit her education. In 2002, the group won the Best African Music Group, at Kora South African Music Awards. and they had worldwide success in gospel music. Initial solo career Being the main vocalist, Nathalie also tried to develop a solo music career starting 2002 with her initial album "On Faith" (2002). The album was rereleased as "GoGospel Edition" (2003) with additional tracks. In 2004, she left Makoma to get established in England and later in Ireland. In 2005, she released a second solo album called "I Saw the Light". Reality television. Idols In 2007-2008 , she returned to the Netherlands to take part in season 4 of Dutch "Idols" and finished runner-up to the eventual winner Nikki Kerkhof. The jury called her the "new Tina Turner" and "a real dancing queen". During the competition, her family group Makoma made a guest appearance on the competition final with Nathalie singing "Ola Olé" in English with her. After "Idols", Nathalie signed a record deal with Sony BMG and toured the Netherlands, performing in more than 150 shows in one year. Dancing With the Stars In 2009, Nathalie took part in the Dutch version of the "Dancing  With the Stars" with her dance partner Peter. She reached the final, and finished second to former Idols-winner Jamai Loman and his partner Gwyneth van Rijn. De Mattheus Masterclass In 2010 took part in the second season of the program "De Mattheus Masterclass" of non-classically trained artists, to perform music by Bach at the church St. Vituskerk in Hilversum. Solo career. In December 2008, she participated in the RTL 4 program "Alles is kerst". In the show she sang with singer Brace the song "All I Want for Christmas Is You" from Mariah Carey. Nathalie's main single  after "Idols" was "I Won't Forget", a song that was also remixed by DJ Paul van Dyk. The song was included in Nathalie's solo album "Dance4Life". A second single "I Just Wanna Dance", an R&B, pop and dance track followed. In 2010 she left the Sony BMG, and she is currently unsigned singer who is hoping to make Worldwide Music. She signed 2014 to her own record label NM HOUSE MUSIC and released her new single "One More Try" in August 2014.