Laurika matriculated at Jan van Riebeeck High School in Cape Town, studied drama at the University of Stellenbosch and obtained her degree in 1972. She moved to Gauteng in 1974 and became a household name in 1979 with the release of her first hit, Kinders van die wind. It was the first Afrikaans song in the late seventies to simultaneously reach the number one position on the Radio 5 and Springbok radio hit parades. Laurika was one of the most prominent singers involved in the revival of popular Afrikaans music/songs in the late seventies and early eighties