Lebo Mathosa; Independent obit (actress & singer)
Hyfler/Rosner
26 October 2006
Jon Lusk
Lebo Mathosa, singer, songwriter and actress: born Daveyton,
South Africa 1977; died Germiston, South Africa 23 October
2006.
Typically sporting a long blonde wig and dancing raunchily,
the singer Lebo Mathosa was renowned for her charismatic
stage presence and natty dress sense. Aside from being
nominated "one of Africa's sexiest women" by the men's
magazine FHM, she was also a pioneer in the field of
copyright for South African artists, having secured
ownership of all the publishing rights and shares for her
songs.
Mathosa first emerged in 1994, while still in her teens,
with Boom Shaka, which became one of the most high-profile
acts performing kwaito, a hugely popular South African style
that combines elements of hip hop, house and various local
ingredients. Her subsequent solo career saw her broadening
her stylistic range and topping the South African pop
charts. At the time of her death, she was planning to start
her own label.
Unusually on the South African music scene, Mathosa gained
control of all her publishing rights not long into her
career. In 1997, she engaged the copyright lawyer Graeme
Gilfillan to secure first Boom Shaka's rights and later her
own as a solo artist. Gilfillan remembers how her singing
increasingly dominated the group, and her incredible drive,
which meant that Boom Shaka had little wind in their sails
without her, and eventually folded. "She was a
perfectionist," he says,
obsessed in terms of what she did. She didn't do anything
halfway. She prepared her dancers and her set for hours and
hours - incredible dedication to her craft.
Although Mathosa guarded her private life, it was an open
secret that she once had a long-standing affair with one of
her female dancers, which helped make her something of a gay
icon. Her current partner was the man driving the car in
which she died; he survived the crash.
Born in 1977, Mathosa grew up in the East Rand town of
Daveyton, near Johannesburg, where she enjoyed gospel music,
singing in a local choir from the age of seven. She was
inspired to pursue a show-business career by the likes of
the pop diva Brenda Fassie and various kwaito groups. In
fact, when Mathosa was only 14, Fassie arranged for her to
come and live with her. Thus, the established star became a
mentor and role model, announcing that her protégée was
"going to be the next Brenda Fassie". Fassie herself died in
2004.
In 1994, Mathola met the rapper Junior Sokhela. Along with
two other budding rappers, Thembi Seete and Theo
Nhlengethwa, they founded Boom Shaka. By 1996, the group had
released its début album, It's About Time, and become
renowned for slick stage shows which raised the bar for
kwaito acts. They made three more albums with Mathosa,
achieving notoriety in 1998 with a controversial version of
"Nkosi Sikelela", the South African national anthem. This
was featured on the UK's first kwaito compilation, Kwaito:
South African hip hop (2000).
By the end of the 1990s it was obvious that a solo career
for Mathosa was inevitable. In 2000 she released her début
solo album, Dream, and the following year she picked up
three Samas (South African Music Awards). Around the same
time, she also launched an acting career, appearing in the
local soap operas Muvhango, Generations and Backstage and
the film Soldiers of the Rock (2003). During 2004 she took
part in local performances of The Vagina Monologues.
Her first trip to the UK was in 2001, performing with Boom
Shaka at the Celebrate South Africa concert in Trafalgar
Square and a club in Tottenham for the Zimbabwe independence
day celebrations.
Her next album, Drama Queen, topped the South African pop
charts in 2004 after a fallow period that prompted rumours
of personal problems, although Mathosa blamed the career
hiatus on contractual wrangles with her former record
company, Gallo.
She appeared at the 2005 launch of the Africa-wide MTV Base
channel, capitalising on a fan-base she had already
established in countries such as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria
and Kenya. Her most recent album, Lioness, was released the
same year and last month she travelled to the UK again after
being nominated for Best African Act at the British Mobo
awards, although she lost out to Ghana's Batman Samini.
Lebo Mathosa, singer, songwriter and actress: born Daveyton,
South Africa 1977; died Germiston, South Africa 23 October
2006.