Nicola McLeod: 11 Interesting Facts You Did Not Know

Pretoria based musician Nicola McLeod has a rich and varied musical and singing background. She has gained valuable experience as a recording artist, lead singer in various bands and a solo artist (who writes her own music).

Nicola has received years of vocal training that she carried throughout her career. She opened her doors to different genres including Pop, Rock, R&B, Blues, Country, etc. She was a soloist in her school choir and landed the lead in the musicals in primary and high school.

More info about Nicola McLeod

Nearing the end of High School Nicola worked at Monte Casino in holidays as a singer, entertainer and MC for kids events. She won a talent competition called High School superstar and ended school with a bang!

Winning this meant she had to compete against 14 other schools in the district where she came 4th as a whole. A music label spotted her and signed her as a recording artist just after high school. She had to learn how to rap and write music in a different way.

Her label challenged her to elevate her sound and do something unique. This taught Nicola how to adapt with the different industries in music. She felt it was needed to break free from what is expected and find her own sound. McLeod started focusing on her acting and slowly became independent by teaching herself to play guitar, booking her own gigs and writing her own acoustic music.

Nicola is now touring going to venues, markets and pubs

She is constantly writing and performing acoustic pop music. She’s performed at local favourites like Railways Cafe, Kleinkaap, Rumours Rock City, Industrial Coffee works, Aandklas Hatfield, The Grind Bar & Eatery, Deep Roots Market, and many other venues.

With her partner she’s running events like Bar Acoustics where they want to give local musos the opportunity to play their acoustic music. They want to start hosting more open mics as well to give beginner musicians the chance to practice and refine their skills.

For Nicola it is important to be able to make an impact on people and to teach students what she knows. She is currently running her own business called Vocals by Nicola and gives vocal training to children and adults of all levels.

Nicola McLeod is building her life by sustaining herself as a freelance muso, music teacher, actress, artist booking agent, events ticket rep and recording artist.

Here are 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Nicola McLeod

1. Nicola’s vocal school is called Vocals by Nicola.

2. She was signed by Goliath studio just after high school.

3. Nicola McLeod only started playing guitar in June 2018.

4. She first started to persue her acting career. She’s still auditioning as an actress via Leads Artists Agency.

5. Nicola has had dreams of becoming a singer since the age of 5.

6. Nicola wants to do an acoustic tour in Europe once she has launched an EP.

7. Her proudest moment is when she bought a car cash just from money she made from her music.

8. Nicola was for two years experience as a holiday entertainer (thanks to her job at Monte Casino).

9. She is planning on filming a music video for her first Afrikaans single this year.

10. Nicola did a second Paramore tribute show in 2025 at Railways Cafe.

11. She released her EP Cinnamon Girl on the 14th of November 2025.

Check out Nicola’s Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram to find out what’s up to.

Kudos to Nicola for providing me with this info. I wish her all of the best with the future endeavors.

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