African Celebrities: Brenda Fassie

Brenda Fassie was an anti - apartheid South African Afro-pop singer. Affectionately called Mabrr by her fans, she was sometimes described as the "Queen of African Pop". She was born on 3 November 1964 and died on 9 May 2004. Brenda Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town. She was the youngest of nine children. She was named after the American singer Brenda Lee. Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a pianist. She started earning money by singing for tourists. In 1981, at the age of 16 she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer. She joined the group Joy and later became the lead singer for a township music group called Brenda and the Big Dudes.

Brenda had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician. She married Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989 but divorced in 1991.

Her son Bongani 'Bongz' Fassie performed on the soundtrack to the 2005 Academy Award - winning movie Tsotsi. He dedicated his song "I'm so sorry" to his mother.