Brenda Fassie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brenda Fassie
Angus Taylor's life-size bronze sculpture of Brenda Fassie outside
Bassline, a music venue in Johannesburg. The Sunday
Timescommissioned the tribute, which was installed in March 2006.
Background information
Also known as Mabrr
Born 3 November 1964
Langa, Cape Town
Origin Johannesburg
Died 9 May 2004 (aged 39)
Genres Afropop
Labels CCP Records
Brenda Fassie (3 November 1964 9 May 2004)
[1]
was a South African anti-
apartheid Afropop singer.
[2]
Her bold stage antics earned a reputation for
"outrageousness".
[3]
Affectionately called Mabrr by her fans, she was sometimes described as the
"Queen of African Pop" or the "Madonna of The Townships".
Contents
[hide]
1 Biography
o 1.1 Death
2 Recognition
3 Selected discography
4 References
Biography[edit]
Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town,
[4]
as the youngest of nine children. She was named after the
American singer Brenda Lee.
[4]
Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a
pianist, she started earning money by singing for tourists.
[5][4]
In 1981, at the age of 16, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a
singer. Fassie first joined the group Joy and later became the lead singer for a township music group
called Brenda and the Big Dudes. She had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician.
She married Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989 but divorced in 1991. Around this time she became addicted
to cocaineand her career suffered.
[6][7]
With very outspoken views and frequent visits to the poorer townships of Johannesburg, as well as
songs about life in the townships, she enjoyed tremendous popularity. Known best for her songs
"Weekend Special" and "Too Late for Mama", she was dubbed "The Madonna of the Townships"
by Time in 2001.
[3]
In 1995, she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her lesbian lover, Poppie Sihlahla, who had
died of an apparent overdose.
[4]
Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on
track.
[4]
However, she still had drug problems and returned to drug rehabilitation clinics
[4]
about 30
times in her life.
From 1996 she released several solo albums, including Now Is the Time, Memeza (1997),
and Nomakanjani?. Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa;Memeza was
the best-selling album in South Africa in 1998.
[4]
Death[edit]
On the morning of 26 April 2004, Fassie collapsed at her home in Buccleuch, Gauteng, and was
admitted into a hospital in Sunninghill. The press were told that she had sufferedcardiac arrest, but
later reported that she had slipped into a coma brought on by an asthma attack. The post-mortem
report revealed that she had taken an overdose of cocaine on the night of her collapse, and this was
the cause of her coma. She stopped breathing and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen.
Fassie was visited in the hospital by Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki, and her
condition was front-page news in South African papers.
[4][8]
She died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in
hospital without returning to consciousness after her life support machines were turned off.
According to the South African Sunday Times and the managers of her music company, the post-
mortem report also showed that she was HIV-positive. Her manager, Peter Snyman, denied this
aspect of the report.
Her family, including her long term partner, were at her side when she died.
Recognition[edit]
She was voted 17th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
Her son Bongani 'Bongz' Fassie performed "I'm So Sorry", a song dedicated to his mother, on the
soundtrack to the 2005 Academy Award-winning movie Tsotsi.'
In March 2006 a life-size bronze sculpture of Fassie by artist Angus Taylor was installed outside
Bassline, a music venue in Johannesburg.
[9]
Selected discography[edit]
Most of Fassie's records were issued by the EMI-owned CCP Records.
1989: Brenda
1990: Black President
1994: Brenda Fassie
1995: Mama
1996: Now Is the Time
1997: Memeza
1997: Paparazzi
2000: Thola Amadlozi
2001: Brenda: The Greatest Hits
2003: Mali
2003: The Remix Collection
2004: Gimme Some Volume
She contributed to Mandoza's album Tornado (2002), Miriam Makeba's album Sangoma (1988),
and Harry Belafonte's anti-apartheid album Paradise in Gazankulu (1988). She sang on the
soundtrack for Yizo, Yizo (2004).
References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Wade, Kergan. "Brenda Fassie: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
2. Jump up^ Wyatt, Hugh (29 November 1990). "Anger At Injustice Fuels Brenda Fassie`s
Music". Chicago Tribue. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
3. ^ Jump up to:
a
b
The Madonna Of The Townships (Time Magazine)
4. ^ Jump up to:
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"Brenda Fassie: A very human hero". BBC News (London). 2004-05-10.
Retrieved 2007-08-20.
5. Jump up^ Walsh, Declan (May 12, 2004). "Brenda Fassie: Brash and brilliant queen of African
pop". The Independent. Retrieved December 2013.
6. Jump up^ Lategan, Annel (18 May 2004). "The life of Brenda Fassie". Women24. Retrieved 9
May 2014.
7. Jump up^ McGregor, Liz (11 May 2004). "Obituary: Brenda Fassie". The Guardian. Retrieved 9
May 2014.
8. Jump up^ "South Africans mourn top pop diva". BBC News (London). 2004-05-11. Retrieved
2007-08-20.
9. Jump up^ "Public Art". Newtown Heritage Trail. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
Afropop! An Illustrated Guide to Contemporary African Music by Sean Barlow & Banning Eyre.
(Book Sales August 1995) ISBN 0-7858-0443-9, ISBN 978-0-7858-0443-7
Authority control
WorldCat
VIAF: 42029257
LCCN: nr99023327
ISNI: 0000 0000 7824 7143
GND: 13085963X
BNF: cb13935771d (data)
MusicBrainz:91838da6-e1cc-46ff-b235-2a2b83814608
Categories:
1964 births
2004 deaths
Anti-apartheid activists
Bisexual musicians
Bisexual women
Drug-related deaths in South Africa
Kwaito artists
LGBT people from South Africa
People from Langa, Cape Town
South African female singers
Xhosa people
