New College Swindon praises 'determination' of former student S1mba after BRIT nomination
The rapper has been shortlisted for Best Single
Last updated 11th May 2021
Lecturers at New College Swindon have paid tribute to a former student, after he was nominated for a BRIT Award.
Leonard Rwodzi, otherwise known as S1mba, has been shortlisted for 'Best Single' at the highest profile music awards ceremony in the UK.
It follows the huge success of his track 'Rover', which has received more than 187 million Spotify plays and been viewed more than 20 million times on YouTube.
Peaking at number three for the UK Charts in April 2020, the song also sat in the Top 10 for 10 weeks.
The single had been originally launched in November 2019, but was re-released last year after going viral on the social media app 'Tik Tok'.
You can see the music video below:
The track also charted in countries worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, France and Ireland.
'We did not expect him to be so successful'
Between 2017 and 2019, S1mba studied Level 3 Digital Music Production in Swindon.
Will Brown, Digital Music Production Lecturer at New College, said: "What a fantastic achievement it is to be nominated in one of the categories at the Brit Awards. It was clear at an early stage in his course that S1mba had something special and was very talented.
“It's rare to find students as young as he is that have strong skills in all areas from song-writing to performance, engineering and production.
"Although we knew he was talented, we had not expected him to be so successful as he is today, although we know it's down to his hard working and humble nature - we can't wait to see what steps he takes next".
Stuart Rowe, who taught S1mba during his course, also praised the rapper for his "great dedication, determination and passion" in developing as a musician.
S1mba will be competing against artists including Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Stormzy to bag the coveted 'Best Single' prize.
The winner will be revealed at the annual BRITS ceremony on 11 May.