Johannesburg - Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town, as the youngest of
nine children. She was named after the American singer Brenda Lee. Her
father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a
pianist, she started earning money by singing for tourists.
In 1981, at the age of 16, she left Cape Town for Soweto,
Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer. Fassie first joined the 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 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 in 2001.
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. She died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital without returning to consciousness after her life support machines were turned off. According to the 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.
By Staff Reporter - GoXtra News - Facebook | Twitter | GoTv Channel
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 in 2001.
In 1995 she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her
lesbian 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 (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.
Death
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. She died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital without returning to consciousness after her life support machines were turned off. According to the 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.
By Staff Reporter - GoXtra News - Facebook | Twitter | GoTv Channel
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