Jason Hartman

Born and raised in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands in South Africa, singer songwriter Jason Hartman’s love for music was evident from a very young age. In his teens, Jason and his brother Scott joined their father and formed a 3-pieced band out of pure necessity to survive. They spent a decade together performing at various venues and corporate functions earning their keep through their mind-blowing performances. Jason then broke away and moved to Johannesburg where he began busking for a living. Soon after this, he put together a 2-pieced duo called Justus, which won the Duo Competition at Tanz Café in Bryanston. This was the beginning of a successful career in the South African music industry.

It was 2009 Idols that truly put Jason on the map as one of South Africa’s finest acts. He lost a bet with a group of friends and was challenged to enter the competition at the age of 29 a year before the contest’s cut-off age. Reluctant at first to enter, he braved the queues and admits that the incredible talent he was competing against overwhelmed him. He nearly gave up but continued to climb up to higher rounds and soon found himself in the top 10 with millions of adoring eyes on him every week. Jason came second to Sasha-Lee but a discrepancy in the voting meant that he was in fact the person with the most votes. However the title of winner of Idols 2009 was shared between the two gifted singers, the first time in the history of the competition that the accolade has been given to two people. Sasha-Lee collaborated with Jason on a track for his debut album, On The Run (Sony Music) which was released in 2009.

Since his joint victory as the winner of the most celebrated reality contest in the country, Jason has performed continuously to audiences all over South Africa. His current band consists of his brother Scott on drums and vocals and his father, Sam on guitar and vocals, as well as a bass player. In fact, the quality of his live performance is so highly acclaimed that he opened for USA Idols winner Kelly Clarkson and was also personally invited by the Prince and Princess of Monaco to partake in their wedding festivities. Jason and his band blew audiences away in Monaco with performances at the Monaco Grand Prix and an opening gig for the Eagles, both performances earned them a standing ovation and celebrity status in that country.

Aside from music, Jason’s passion is the environment, in particular gardening. He has always been at home in the tranquility of Mother Nature and leverages off his celebrity status to put across very authentic messages on sustainability and environmental awareness. Jason heads up an NGO called The Men of Trees NGO (www.motto.org.za) and is driving several ‘green’ projects such as sustainable vegetable gardens in schools. Sustainability in the garden is very important to Jason and he proudly shows underprivileged people all over the country how to plant crops in tyres in order to feed their families. His love for gardening is well known, and a visit to his website www.jasonsgarden.com will delight all plant lovers and everyone that wants global warming and poverty to stop. Jason’s trip to Monaco enabled him to build up a lot of support from some of Europe’s most influential people and he will be joining them in a drive to end global poaching and will incorporate awareness and a very serious message into his shows and new music he is working on.