Brenda Nokuzola Fassie, was a South African anti-apartheid Afro-pop singer, songwriter,
dancer and activist.
She was sometimes described as the Queen of African Pop, the Madonna of The Townships,
or simply, The Black Madonna.
Her bold stage antics earned a reputation for outrageousness.
Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town, on 03 November 1964, as the youngest of nine children.
She was named after an American singer, Brenda Lee.
Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, who was a pianist,
she started earning money by singing for tourists in Cape Town.
At age 16, Fassie received a visit by Koloi Lebona, a renowned South African musician
and producer.
As a result, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer.
She first joined the vocal group by name Joy, substituting for one of the singers who was
on maternity leave.
Later, she became the lead singer for a township music group, called Brenda and the Big Dudes.
Fassie had a son, Bongani, in 1985, with a fellow Big Dudes musician.
Later, she married Nhlanhla Mbambo, in 1989, but divorced in 1991.
Around this time, she became addicted to cocaine, and her career suffered.
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 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, she released several solo albums, including Now Is the Time, Memeza, and Nomakanjani.
Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa, and Memeza was the best-selling
album in South Africa in 1998.
Fassie has won five South African Music Awards: Best Female Artist, and Song of the Year in
1999, Best-selling Release of the Decade, and Best Song of the Decade in 2004, and Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2005.
She has also won three Kora Awards: Most promising Female Artist of Africa, and Best Female Artist
of Africa in 1996, and the Jury Special Award in 2001.
She was voted 17th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
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 suffered cardiac 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.
Brenda Nokuzola Fassie 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.
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.
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