Dutch X Factor winner, singer Sharon Kips shares her unusual life story with City News.
By GJ Gonzales
CN PHOTOS: Michael Chan.
Congregants at City Harvest Church were treated to a rousing performance by Dutch X Factor 2007 winner Sharon Kips over the weekend of March 4 and 5, when she and husband Gilbert Thera were in town as part of a trip to Indonesia.
It was not a common pairing, but if anything, their love story showed that God has a funny way of drawing people together. It was their worshipful love for God and music that brought them together at a God-ordained appointment. Thera, an Indonesian music minister and youth pastor at Maranatha Ministries in Amsterdam, met Kips when she visited his church to sing at service one day, and Thera accompanied her on the piano. As she opened her mouth to worship God, they experienced a divine connection that blossomed into love and marriage.
Dazzling the congregants with a powerful voice buoyed by polished confidence, Kips delivered two songs, including the joyful reminder, “God’s Alive And Well”. Expressing deep fondness for songs that speak of life, love and relationships, she says, “I like to bring out a story and put it into context.” Her music is part secular, part gospel, but altogether uplifting.
Growing up in a musically-inclined family in Holland, Kips always liked to sing. When she was seven, she was singled out by her elementary school teacher for her attentiveness in music class, her distinctive voice and a musical ear. The teacher made a phone call to her parents and soon after, Kips was enrolled in music school.
Besides her elementary school teacher, she is grateful to God for leading her down the path that would turn out to be her life’s calling. “It is such an encouragement and blessing to know that God believes in me and that He wants me to succeed in life,” Kips shared. “I am convinced that God believes in us; we all need someone who believes in us.”
Throughout her early years, Kips participated in church and school choirs and performed real gigs with a band, but it was after bagging the top spot at a regional competition that Kips realized that singing was what she wanted to pursue as a career.
Since 2007, Kips has released two albums, 10 and Love Will Bring You Home, and three singles. Notably, her first single “Heartbreak Away” reached number one in the Dutch Top 40 charts in its first week. Kips will be releasing her third album later this year. The album will be in Dutch, “because I want to get closer to the people in Holland.”
