Over a career of 21 remarkable years, Brenda Fassie – or Ma Brrr as she was affectionately known by her fans – delivered everything that was ever required of her, and so much more: there were the recordings (from the early releases like Too Late For Mama to her 2003 album, Mali), the hit songs (Weekend Special is just one of many), the energetic and always surprising performances, the songs (Brenda was a special songwriting talent), the rock and roll lifestyle, the mother’s love (she left a son, Bongani), the heartfelt connection with her fans, the global recognition.
It was the buzz around Brenda’s voice that first prompted legendary producer, Koloi Lebona, to make the trip, at Christmas 1979, from Johannesburg to the Cape Town township of Langa to hear her sing. Then just 16, Brenda, who had been the star of the Tiny Tots group, was something of a legend among the mother city’s musicians. Recalls Koloi: “I had five or six musicians raving to me about her voice and so I decided to hear it for myself. I had no trouble finding her mother Sarah’s house in Langa – everyone was talking about Brenda. And when I got there Brenda sang several standards for me while her (now late) mother played the piano. There was something special about her voice. It was different than anything I had heard until then and was very mature for a teenager. I knew it was the voice of the future.”
And that “voice of the future” came with a self-belief well beyond Brenda’s years. “When she’d finished singing for me, she quickly sussed how impressed I was,” Koloi said. “She turned to me and said ‘so when are we going to Joburg’!” That comment pointed the way to another key to Brenda’s career: her incredible drive, her unswerving belief in herself, and her total individuality.
Reluctant to interfere with her schooling, Koloi, with Sarah Fassie’s permission, took the young singer to live with his family in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto with the idea that Brenda would complete her studies and then pursue a singing career. But events overtook Kaloi’s plans when Joy singer Anneline Malebo left to go on maternity leave and Brenda temporarily joined the highly successful singing trio. As Koloi puts it: “The bug was too strong to resist after that, and Brenda’s professional singing career was launched.”
When her Joy contract expired, Brenda took up an offer from Blondie and Papa to appear as a solo artist on their road show. It was through this that the Big Dudes were formed and Brenda’s career soared to a new level as part of the group, Brenda and the Big Dudes. Nevertheless, the singer had yet to record – a situation which changed, pretty dramatically, when ?Weekend Special?, already a wildly popular live song, was released in 1983 as a 12″ Maxi through CCP Record Company, the South African record company started by Clive Calder. A funky, disco-grooved track that provided the perfect vehicle for Brenda’s crystalline and potent voice, ?Weekend Special? became the fastest selling record of the time. The song, which today remains a highly-influential track in the history of South African music, entered the Billboard Hot Black singles chart in March 1986, enabling Brenda and the Big Dudes to appear in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Brazil. The single was remixed in New York by Van Gibbs and released by Capitol Records. It remained on the US charts for a full eight weeks and enjoyed significant radio play, including throughout southern Africa. ?Weekend Special?’s success ignited a dwindling homegrown music scene. “It sold around 200,000 copies,” remembers then CCP MD, Ken Haycock. “The rest of the ’80s saw an unbelievable run of local hits, and there’s no doubt Brenda played a huge part in stimulating that trend.”
With a provocative stage show, and a well publicized rivalry with the likes of fellow township pop superstar, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the 1980s saw Brenda vaulting rapidly into solo superstar status, releasing records, with Malcolm Watson in the producer’s seat, like Cool Spot, which included It’s Nice To Be With People} and scoring hits with songs like No No No Senor.
Firmly established as a solo artist (Brenda originally signed her record deal as part of the Big Dudes and initially had an equal royalty split with the rest of the group), the late 1980s saw Brenda team up with producer Sello “Chicco” Twala, a creative coupling that has proved the most spectacular in South Africa’s music history. Brenda and Chicco’s explosive musical interaction culminated in the monster album Too Late for Mama, which became a multi-platinum seller in 1989 and rose to the top of most South African charts.
For the next several years, Brenda’s career continued apace and, in 1996, she revealed her abilities as a producer with the album Now Is the Time. Defining a new level of maturity for Brenda, the album features two duets with Papa Wemba and astonished even her most loyal fans. 1997, too, proved to be an important year for Brenda with the release of Paparazzi, in spite of talk of Brenda’s “demise.” The album, produced by talented newcomer, Godfrey Pilane, featured a duet with Bayete’s Jabu Khanyile, and was a diverse offering with everything from kwaito to to slow groove tracks.
But little could prepare South Africa for Brenda’s spectacular comeback album – the 1998 release, Memeza. The album, which saw the singer again team up with producer Chicco, became South Africa’s best selling release of the year, shifting 500,000 copies and earning Brenda several South African Music Awards as well as young and old fans all over again through hit tracks like “Vul’indlela.” The latter – hugely popular throughout Africa, as Brenda’s 1999 Kora award for best female artist revealed – has its origins deep in African gospel, with much of its appeal in the rhythm of Zion church music.
“Tell everyone Brenda’s back,” she said at the time – and that statement has proved to be true.
This landmark album – which dug deep into this country’s musical roots – was produced by Chicco who says he knew early on during the 1998 recording sessions that Memeza would rapidly propel Brenda back into the musical stratosphere at supersonic speed.
“I thought people might have forgotten about Brenda because her previous albums were pretty low-key. When it came to the sound of the album, we looked around the world and saw that those people having huge successes were going back to the old music and so we decided to do the same. But a great deal of Memeza’s success is due to Brenda’s excellent voice, which we kept dominant throughout the album.”
When it came to Brenda’s 1999 follow-up, Nomakanjani?, Chicco was once again at the helm as producer, engineer, and chief songwriter. Again Brenda’s voice, in fine form, was the musical pivot of the album. Her 2000 release, Amadlozi, featuring hits like Thola Amadlozi and Nakupende (I Love You) again proved what a dazzling match the Brenda-Chicco one was. The second half of 2001 saw the release of Mina Nawe, with Chicco in the producer’s seat for the fourth time in recent years.
Reclaiming her status as South Africa’s queen of pop was not without its difficulties, and the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century saw the at times mercurial and capricious singer earn many tabloid inches about her personal life.
2002 saw the release of Myekeleni, Brenda’s most accomplished and impressively diverse album so far. She followed that up with Mali, released late in 2003 and already past platinum status and unleashed several radio hits including Pond Pond and Ntsware-Ndibambe. Like all of Brenda’s recordings, alongside the upbeat, danceable tracks are several tender, gentle ballads like Siyobonana, My Baby, and Ngizilahlela Kuwe – trademark Brenda recordings that might never reach the top of the charts but touch the hearts of her loyal fans throughout Africa and, consequently, are part of the reason why she remains so beloved.
It may come as a surprise to many people that hit songs like Ntsware-Ndibambe were written and produced by Brenda herself. Over the last few years of her life, when her personal life became the focus of attention in the press, many forgot that, alongside a voice that remained one of the strongest in South Africa, Brenda had an intuitive feel for songs that are beautifully revealed in the several that she wrote and recorded for Mali. Longtime creative partner and producer, Sello “Chicco” Twala also contributed to the songwriting on the album.
“Writing songs is what I do whenever I feel a melody coming,” Brenda said in 2004. “I have a small studio at home and I am in there often, writing music and lyrics. It’s an important part of my creative life.”
That Brenda remained beloved by her fans and able to pursue a dynamic career littered with hit songs, multi-platinum sales, and sparkling performances for so long (she was born in 1964 and was about to turn 40 when she died on May 9, 2004), speaks volumes about the magic that dwelt deep within the woman’s soul. So it was no surprise when Time magazine chose to showcase Brenda Fassie in a three-page spread in its December 17, 2001 issue. Featuring a stunning picture of Brenda against a purple background and the headline “The Madonna of the Townships,” Time profiled the singer, focusing on a recent trip to America, and made no bones about Brenda’s proclivity for attention-grabbing antics. But at the center of the piece was a focus on her extraordinary talent and the tale of a woman who has overcome adversity and triumphed in her chosen career.
Brenda certainly achieved triumph throughout her career. In 2002, at the 8th South African Music Awards, Brenda once more scooped – for an incredible and record-breaking fourth year in a row – the SAMA for Best Selling Release, for the album Mina Nawe. The album’s success in outstripping sales of any other domestic release in the year 2001 followed on the heels of her previous three albums — Memeza, Amadlozi, and Nomakanjani? – all of which earned the title of the country’s most popular album in the year of their release. Since then, her 2002 Myekeleni and 2003’s Mali have both scorched their way to multi-platinum status in South Africa, and unleashed chart-topping songs in tracks like ‘Come Duze,” “Duma Duma,” ‘Pond Pond,” and “Ntsware-Ndibambe.” At the 2004 South African Music Awards, Brenda’s song “Vul’indlela’ (a hit across the continent) was declared Song of the Decade by the South African public in one of the few public-voted categories at the event. More recently, her posthumous album – released in September 2004, Give Me Some Volume – reached platinum in a single day.
Brenda?s unmistakable voice belied an increasing physical frailty, and after a tragically rapid downturn in her already-fragile health, Brenda Fassie died in May 2004, just before her 40th birthday. It was a true tribute to her prominence in South African culture that visitors to her hospital bedside included Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and President Thabo Mbeki, among many others. South Africa Africa
Discography:
Brenda Brenda (1987 )
Ag Shame Lovey (The CCP Record Company, 1987 )
Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu (The CCP Record Company, 1988)
Too Late For Mama Brenda (1989 )
Black President (Mercury, 1990)
I Am Not A Bad Girl (1991)
Yo Baby ( The CCP Record Company, 1992)
Mama (Celluloid, 1994)
Abantu Bayakhuluma (The CCP Record Company, 1994)
Soon & Very Soon (Teal Records, 1994)
Umuntu Uyashintsha(The CCP Record Company, 1995)
Now Is The Time (The CCP Records Company, 1996)
Hamba Sathane (The CCP Record Company, 1996)
Paparazzi (The CCP Record Company, 1997)
Memeza (The CCP Record Company, 1998)
Nomakanjani? (The CCP Record Company, 1999)
Amadlozi (The CCP Record Company, 2000)
Mina Nawe ( The CCP Reord Company, 2001)
Myekeleni (EMI Music South Africa, 2002)
Mali ( EMI, 2003 )
Love Songs (EMI , 2007)
African Classics – Africa’s Queen of Pop (Sheer Sound, 2009)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.