Profile Text
Birth Name: Gert Smit
Date of Birth: 27 December, 1944
Place of Birth: Krugersdorp, Transvaal, South Africa
Date of Death: 3 July, 1998
Place of Death: Roodepoort, Orange Free State, South Africa
Ethnicity: Afrikaner [Dutch, French Huguenot, German, Swiss-German, Belgian Flemish and Walloon, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, and Swiss-French], as well as, some Cape Malay/Cape Coloured [Indonesian, Chinese, Khoisan, Indian, English, Scottish, Irish, Mauritian, remote Xhosa], distant Angolan, Malayali, Guinean, Malagasy, Khoikhoi, Bengali, Norwegian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Timorese, remote Spanish, Sri Lankan, Finnish, Basque, Latvian, and Kenyan
Gene Rockwell was a South African singer and musician. He was known for his contributions to the country’s rock and pop music scene, from the late 1950s through the 1970s. He rose to fame with his 1965 recording of “Heart,” which topped the LM Radio Top 20 charts in South Africa.
Gene was born in Krugersdorp, Transvaal Province, the son of Johanna Wilhelmina Christina and Pieter Gerrit Smit. He moved with his family to Durban as a child. At fifteen, he won his first talent competition in Durban’s “Little Top.” In his late teens, he formed The Blue Angels, later renamed The Falcons, with whom he performed and recorded in the early 1960s.
Gene’s paternal grandfather was Pieter Gerrit Smit (the son of Pieter Gerhardus Smit and Johanna Wilhelmina Christina Breet). Gene’s grandfather Pieter was born in Krugersdorp, Transvaal. Gene’s great-grandfather Pieter was the son of Theunis Hassie Smit and Petronella Hermina Van Wijk. Gene’s great-grandmother Johanna was the daughter of Pieter Gerhardus Breet and Maria Catharina Breedt.
Gene’s paternal grandmother was named Gezina Johanna Maria van Wyk. Gezina was born in Ladismith, Cape Province, and may have been of Cape Coloured and Cape Malay ancestry, of Indonesian, Chinese, Khoisan, Indian, English, Scottish, Irish, Mauritian, and Xhosa descent.
Gene’s maternal grandfather was Pieter Gerhardus Breet (the son of Frans Jacobus Breet and Anna Johanna Franciena Breet). Pieter was born in Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa, and was of Afrikaner descent. Frans was born in Potchefstroom, the son of Petrus Gerhardus Breedt and Magdalena Maria Adriana Labuschagne. Gene’s great-grandmother Anna was the daughter of David Johannes Breet and Louisa Johanna Jacoba Willemina de Beer.
Gene’s maternal grandmother was Maria Catharina Breedt (the daughter of Joseph Erasmus Breet and Johanna Wilhelmina Christina van den Berg). Maria was born in Rustenburg, Transvaal, South Africa, to Afrikaner parents. Joseph was born in Witklip, Rustenburg, the son of Petrus Gerhardus Breedt and Magdalena Maria Adriana Labuschagne. Gene’s great-grandmother Johanna was born in Potchefstroom, Transvaal, the daughter of Francois Nicolaas van den Berg and Maria Catharina Botha.