THIS IS HOW DRUGS DESTROYED BRENDA FASSIE’S CAREER…
Brenda Nokuzola Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town on 3 November 1964, the youngest of nine children.
She was named after the American singer Brenda Lee. Her father died when she was only two years old; with the help of her mother, a pianist, she soon started earning money by singing for tourists.
When she was 16 years old in 1981, she received a visit by Hendrick “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.
She had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician. She married Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989, but the pair divorced in 1991. Around this time she became addicted to cocaine and her career suffered as a result.
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. She also used her music to oppose the apartheid regime in South Africa.
In 1989, she released the song “Black President” as a tribute to Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner and later the first Black president of South Africa.
Known best for her songs “Weekend Special” and “Too Late for Mama”, Fassie was dubbed “The Madonna of the Townships” by Time magazine in 2001.
In 1995, she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her female lover, Poppie Sihlahla, who had died of an apparent overdose.
Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on track.
However, she still had drug problems, and returned to drug rehabilitation clinics about 30 times in her life.
From 1996 on 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.
CREDIT: 265 ENT MAG