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On 3 November 1964, South African singer, songwriter, dancer and activist Brenda Nokuzola Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town as the youngest of nine children. Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a pianist, she started earning money by singing for tourists.

When she was 16 years old in 1981, she received a visit by renowned music producer and musician Koloi Lebona. As a result, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer. Fassie first joined the vocal group Joy and later became the lead singer for a township music group called Brenda and the Big Dudes. Her first recording was made in 1983 with the hit single “Weekend Special”, which became the fastest-selling record at the time.

During the early 1990s, Fassie's life went into a downward spiral. She became addicted to cocaine and for years she checked in and out of drug rehabilitation clinics. In 1996 she made a comeback to the music industry as the producer of her album Now is the Time, which featured two duets with Democratic Republic of Congo music legend, Papa Wemba. In the late 1990s she released several solo albums, including, Memeza and Nomakanjani. Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa.

With very outspoken views and frequent visits to the poorer townships of Johannesburg, as well as songs about life in the townships, Fassie enjoyed tremendous popularity. In 2001, she was dubbed "The Madonna of the Townships" by Time magazine .

On the morning of 26 April 2004, Fassie collapsed at her home in Buccleuch, Gauteng, and was admitted into a hospital in Sunninghill. She was visited in the hospital by Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki, and her condition was front-page news in South African papers. Fassie died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital without regaining consciousness after her life support machines were turned off.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Selected publications

Brenda Fassie and Busiswa Gqulu: a relationship of feminist expression, aesthetics and memory / Tau Siphokazi.
Social dynamics, 2021-01-02, Vol.47 (1), p.23-36

(I’m) Not A Bad Girl : Brenda Fassie ou la transgression des normes / P. Gervais-Lambony.
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 16(1), 89-111, 2017.

I'm not your weekend special : portraits on the life + style & politics of Brenda Fassie / Bongani Madondo. - Johannesburg : Picador Africa, 2014.

The neo-Adlerian wellness of Brenda Fassie: A Psychobiography / N. Nortjé, J.P. Fouché & O. Gogo.
Online Journal of African Affairs, 2 (3), 46-53, 2013 (available via researchgate)

Brenda remembered / Andrew Whaley. - Claremont : New Africa ; London : Global [distributor], 2005.

God rock Africa: Thoughts on politics in popular black performance in South Africa / David B. Coplan.
African studies (Johannesburg), 2005-07-01, Vol.64 (1), p.9-27

Portraits of power : profiles in a changing South Africa / Mark Gevisser. [Cape Tokwn etc.] : David Philip [etc.], 1996

See also Brenda Fassie on Muziekweb and on South African History Online

Brenda Fassie performing Black President

Timeline of 20-th century South African singers via Wikidata and DBpedia