Letta Mbulu

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Letta Mbulu (born August 23, 1942 in today's Soweto ) is a South African jazz and pop singer.

Live and act

Mbulu, who grew up in Soweto, first appeared as a singer in the vocal group The Skylarks and in the musical King Kong , with which she also appeared in London in 1961. In the following years she sang South African hits like Maru a pula , I Need Your Love , Buza and Everybody Sing Along . In 1965 she went into exile in the United States because of the tightening of apartheid . There she was - next to Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela at the concert - Sound Of Africa in the Carnegie Hall involved. She subsequently worked with Harry Belafonte , but also with Cannonball Adderley ; she also wrote songs for Miriam Makeba. Quincy Jones brought her on as the singer for his soundtracks from Roots (where she sang the theme song, among others) and The Color Purple , after she had previously been heard in Sidney Poitiers A Warm December . She also sang the Swahili part in Michael Jackson's song Liberian Girl .

In 1986 she was also involved in founding the South African Artists United . She only returned to her homeland in 1991, where she was able to celebrate a great success at the Unity Festival Apartheid . In 2001 she received the South African Music Award for her lifetime achievement. She often works musically with her husband Caiphus Semenya , with whom she received the Order of Ikhamanga in silver in 2009 .

Discography

  • Letta Mbulu Sings ( Capitol , 1967)
  • Free Soul (Capitol, 1968)
  • Letta (Chisa, 1970)
  • Naturally ( Fantasy , 1972)
  • There's Music in the Air ( A&M , 1976)
  • Letta (A&M, 1977)
  • Letta Mbulu - Gold (A&M, 1978)
  • The Best of Letta & Caiphus ( Columbia , 1996)
  • Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1999)
  • Letta Mbulu Sings / Free Soul (Stateside, 2005)
  • Culani Nami ( Sony , 2007)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Doug Payne , accessed March 6, 2012
  2. ↑ List of recipients of the order 2009 ( Memento of December 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
personal data
SURNAME Mbulu, Letta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African singer
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Soweto , South Africa