Meet Tyla's parents: All about Sharleen and Sherwin Seethal
Tyla Laura Seethal is one of the youngest artists taking the music world by storm. At 22, she won her first Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance for her hit song Water in 2024. Tyla’s parents supported, nurtured her passions, and guided her.
At every opportunity, my mother will make me sing.
Source: UGC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Tyla's parents have South African nationality.
- Her mother is a Talent Scout and Casting Director at SWT Castings.
- Tyla's parents initially doubted her music career, so they gave her a year deadline to prove herself before moving on.
- In 2024, her parents followed her to the United States for the first time to attend the Grammys.
Tyla's profile summary
| Full name | Tyla Laura Seethal |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of birth | 30 January 2002 |
| Age | 23 years old (as of 2025) |
| Place of birth | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Ethnicity | Mixed |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) |
| Parents | Sherwin and Sharleen |
| Siblings | 3 |
| Marital status | Single |
| School | Edenglen High School |
| Profession | Singer |
| Social media | InstagramX (Twitter) |
Who are Tyla's parents?
Tyla's parents are Sharleen and Sherwin Seethal. According to his LinkedIn page, her father, Sherwin, is the Chief Insurance Finance Officer for Alpha Insure, an independently-owned Cell Captive UMA in Southern Africa. He had previously worked as the head of accounting in insurance in the same company.
Sherwin completed his secondary school education at Sparks Estate Senior Secondary before gaining admission into the IIE Varsity College. There, he bagged a diploma in financial accounting.
Source: Original
Tyla's mother, Sharleen Jasmin, studied at Ennerdale Secondary School (Tech), according to her Facebook bio. She is a Talent Scout and Casting Director at SWT Castings. The agency works as the middleman between talent/modelling agencies and clients searching for people for castings and media events.
Tyla's parents are great inspirations and supporters of their daughter's music career. In a video that AfroBeating shared on TikTok about Tyla Seethal's family in October 2023, Tyla mentioned how her mother always wants her to sing. In response, her mother said:
You know why Tyla? You just touched my heart; every time I felt sad.
Source: Facebook
Are Tyla's parents Indians?
Only Tyla Seethal's father is Indian. Her mother Sharleen is South African with Mauritius and Indian heritage. Sharleen is a native of Zulu with Irish descent.
The South African singer recognised her diverse roots in a post on X (Twitter) on 13 June 2024 after she faced criticism from people for stating she is coloured. The caption read:
Yoh guys. Never denied my blackness, I don't know where that came from. I'm mixed with black/Zulu, Irish, Mauritian/Indian, and coloured. In South Africa, I would be classified as a coloured woman, and in other places, I would be classified as a black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.
Where was Tyla born?
She was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tyla's real name is Tyla Laura Seethal. Her birth date is 30 January 2002, making her 23 years old in 2025.
Where is Tyla originally from?
She is South African with a mixed ethnicity hailing from Edenvale in Gauteng. On 23 September 2020, she posted a video on her Instagram page saying:
Hi, my name is Tyla. I'm a coloured South African, which means, I come from many different cultures! In my family, one of those cultures is Zulu. I'm exploring my African heritage by wearing Bantu Knots, a protective hairstyle used in various African cultures.
Source: Getty Images
Tyla's parents and her music career
Before she achieved fame, Tyla's parents in South Africa did not want her to pursue a music career. In an interview with 102.7 KIIS FM, the popstar said:
My parents were like, 'You have to study, there's no way you're doing music.' Especially in South Africa, not a lot of people at the time were doing what I wanted to do right, which was become a pop star globally. So my parents were like, 'Be realistic. You need to work, this can be a side hobby.
Tyla said she cried almost every day on her mother's bed pleading for a year to prove herself. Her request was granted and she released Getting Late. She dropped out of school, where she was studying mining engineering, to focus on music.
Her first manager, Garth von Glehn, found her via her songs posted on TikTok. In 2024, she won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance.
The singer's parents were proud of her as they accompanied her to the GRAMMYs. They also supported her at the SA Style Awards in South Africa in March 2024. There, Tyla won the award for Most Stylish Performing Artist.
Source: Getty Images
How many siblings does Tyla have?
She has three siblings. The Art singer's sisters are Whitney Jasmin and Sydney. Her younger brother is Tyrese.
Tyla's parents came to the limelight because of their young daughter. She has taken South Africa's name to big stages, and her parents are also basking in her glory.
READ ALSO: All about Tyla
As published on Briefly.co.za, Tyla, dubbed the Queen of Popiano, is one of the few female artists from Africa to achieve global superstar status. At 22, Tyla became the youngest African solo artist to win a Grammy.
Source: Briefly News
