DONOVAN ALEXANDER BIOGRAPHY

1.Testimony
Donovan Alexander grew up in a Christian home. His father and mother both serve the Lord and his father is a retired pastor of his home church, Epping Assembly of God. Their salvation is however not a guarantee for his eternal life, so when he was 16 years old he made a personal commitment to serve Jesus during a youth camp. He recalls, “I wept bitterly that day, but my life changed forever”.

Donovan has always been a quiet person and he says, “There’s nothing wrong with that, however, it is a problem when you let shyness stand in the way of what God wants to do through your life. Someone once encouraged me with these words of Nelson Mandela:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are
you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small does not serve the world.”

Donovan also notes that in God’s Word He reminds us of how special we are:

“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Ps 139:14a)
What is man that You are mindful of him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. (Ps 8: 4-5)

My desire is to serve Jesus until the day of His return.”

2.When the music started
Donovan started writing songs when he was eleven years old. At that time he could not play a musical instrument; he would therefore come up with the lyrics and the melody but was unable to add musical accompaniment to the songs. For ten years he wrote songs in that fashion as he struggled to find someone to help him to add instrumentation. Person after person disappointed him to the point where he became very despondent. Donovan says, “God knew the desires of my heart though, and when I was twenty one years old, He sent a young man named Winston Meyer into my life who taught me the basics of playing piano and reading music”. Donovan later went for music lessons with Trevor Ray Parker (Sr.) who is currently his music director. “I then started playing in my local church band and today I’m still playing in the same band. Both my parents are also singers, so there are definitely some musical genes in my family.” adds Donovan.

3.Musical Influences
Most of Donovan’s musical influences are from secular artists. These influences have however not shaped his spiritual values as he prefers to look to Jesus for spiritual inspiration instead. His two favourite secular artists are Lionel Richie and James Ingram.
“I think Lionel Richie is one of the most prolific songwriters/singers/ producers of our time and James Ingram is a phenomenal singer. I also listened to the music of Billy Joel, Elton John and Bruce Hornsby when I was growing up. Secular music is often a controversial topic in Christian circles. I guess one has to stay grounded in one’s Faith and have a proper perspective on things. I believe one should stay clear from music that is contrary to God’s Word. There are so many songs that deal with lust, adultery, fornication, self exaltation, degrading of women, and the list goes on and on. On the other hand there are many beautiful songs that are sincere and deal with relationships between family and friends, our environment and God.” says Donovan.
His favourite Gospel group is undoubtedly The Winans. He was introduced to their music by one of his cousins when he was a teenager. Today he still enjoys their music even though they stopped recording many years ago. Other of his favourite artists are Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams, Richard Smallwood, Hezekiah Walker and Ray Boltz. He is also very fond of traditional Gospel music such as Hymns, Negro Spirituals and Afrikaans Koortjies.

4.Objectives of his music
Donovan notes that he once read a book that spoke of the functionality of music, explaining that all music has a function in society. He believes that Gospel/Christian music subscribes to the highest form of functionality. Donovan says,
“We can praise and worship God with our music, we can speak healing, blessings and exhortation over our lives with music. There are so many examples in the Bible of where music was used to God’s glory. This is precisely what I aim to do with the music God has blessed me with. It is so easy to create a song but to create a life-changing one takes commitment and hard work. Commitment to our Savior so that we can hear His voice when He speaks to us, commitment to our craft and hard work all around.”
Donovan is also mindful of the other wonders of music such as the opportunities to uplift communities, not only spiritually but also physically. He sees what he is doing as a ministry, a ministry entrusted to him by the Lord, God Almighty. This means that he has a tremendous responsibility to reveal to man what God wants to say through him.

5.Projects
“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:16b)

To date Donovan has recorded his first album, “Back to my Father’s house”. There are however a number of other exciting projects that are just waiting to be started. These projects do not only involve music but also drama.

Back to my Father’s house was launched on 6 October 2007 at the Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone and featured Neville D and Wilmot Fredericks as guest artists.