Jennifer Jones – Remembering the 1995 Rugby World Cup!

Jennifer Jones (Courtesy: southafrica.co.za – Photo: Eric Miller)

On this day 24 June 1995, Jennifer Jones, South Africa’s Soul Diva performed the song Where The World Began at the ’95 Rugby World Cup Final match closing ceremony at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

Looking back Jennifer says that this was one of the proudest moments in her career.

Only in retrospect did she realize the impact of the event and that she actually formed part of history in the making.

Jennifer says she was young, naive (only 26 at the time) and was not really a rugby fan so she had no realization of the scale of the event during the build up toward the performance. She was not involved in any rehearsals either. She was briefed on the day regarding her movements going onto the field, during the performance and then coming off the field.

“It was just another day on the job,” she says. “This is what I do. I perform. I sing for people and try with every performance to touch someone in a special way with my gift and hopefully change a life.”

“I remember there was a moment, when I looked up and saw all those people, the packed stadium, I realized, although not fully, that this was huge!”

“After the performance,” she continues, “in the changing room, Jannie Pretorius, the producer, came to me and asked me If I realized that, apart from the 63000 people in the stadium, I had just performed for the whole of the Rugby World?” “That’s when it hit me and sunk in!” “I remember feeling a bit of nausea creep in,” she giggles.

Asked if the opportunity arose to do it again, she replies in her typical Jennifer Jones way: “Oh hell yeah! I’m older and wiser now, so I’ll do it bigger and better!”

Article by Leon Joubert for ShowMe Vaal