Amanda Strydom was born on 23 July 1956 and is a South African singer and songwriter.
31 Facts About Amanda Strydom
1.
2.
Amanda Strydom was born in the city of Port Elizabeth where she lived and went to school, matriculating from Framesby High School in 1974.
3.
Amanda Strydom had no formal music training during her childhood and she can't read a note of music, but she was an active participant in school choirs, and learnt drama at the Children's Theatre with Mari Mocke and Marlene Pieterse.
4.
Amanda Strydom pursued a tertiary education at the University of Pretoria where she graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, specialising in drama.
5.
Amanda Strydom has since written most of the songs in her repertoire and discography, but she sings songs by artists such as Koos du Plessis, Stef Bos, Jose Feliciano, Kris Kristofferson, Holly Cole, and George Gershwin.
6.
When writing her own songs Amanda Strydom usually composes the lyrics alone, while often collaborating with others when composing the music.
7.
Also in 1979, Amanda Strydom began working for the Cape Provincial Arts Board where she starred in theatre pieces such as Die Wonderwerk and "Kinkels innie kabel".
8.
Amanda Strydom began working as a disc jockey in that year, for both Highveld Stereo and Radio 5.
9.
Amanda Strydom landed the female lead role in Potato Eaters, an English television drama.
10.
Amanda Strydom presented the character Grace Lipschitz in Hell is for Whites Only, which was written by Pieter-Dirk Uys.
11.
Amanda Strydom performed in Siener in die Suburbs for the official opening of the State Theatre in Pretoria.
12.
Well established in various industries by 1983, Amanda Strydom starred in various plays and television series in the following years.
13.
Amanda Strydom released her first Afrikaans LP in 1983, titled Vir my Familie, as well as her first English LP in 1985, titled Jupiter Jones is Amanda.
14.
Amanda Strydom began performing as a solo cabaret artist, at Garbo's in Cape Town and at Club 58 in Hillbrow.
15.
Amanda Strydom achieved notoriety in 1986 for giving the black power salute after one of her songs in her cabaret at the Oude Libertas Hall in Stellenbosch.
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Consequently, Amanda Strydom was referred to as Amandla Strydom in popular culture.
17.
Amanda Strydom uses the black salute on stage to this day and even occasionally refers to herself as Amandla.
18.
Amanda Strydom released a CD of the cabaret's songs, called Songs from State of the Heart.
19.
Amanda Strydom has released a CD under the same title, with songs recorded from the cabaret.
20.
Diva was Amanda Strydom's take on this issue, a work in which she pleaded for the integrity and worth of the arts in South Africa.
21.
Amanda Strydom created a successful concert programme of her own songs, called Strydom in Concert.
22.
Amanda Strydom performed 'n Vuur gevang in Glas at the KKNK and released a CD recording of its songs.
23.
Amanda Strydom arranged it into a concert programme for KKNK the following year, and created two other programmes called C'est Moi and In Full Flight for various festivals in the country.
24.
Amanda Strydom then wrote her play Hartlied to be performed at the Aardklop festival in Potchefstroom.
25.
Amanda Strydom performed her show All by Myself at the Pink Loerie Festival and at the performance venue on Broadway in Cape Town.
26.
Three South African magazines approached Amanda Strydom to perform in concert extravaganzas that they were arranging; Huisgenoot invited her to sing in Sun City at their prestigious Skouspel concert, Rooi Rose invited her to sing in Al Daai Jazz, and Sarie invited her to perform with others in their Inspirasie concerts.
27.
Amanda Strydom won two FNB Vita awards for her work on Op 'n Klein Blou Ghoen.
28.
Amanda Strydom had two further honours in that year: first, she was honoured by her alma mater, the University of Pretoria with their Tuks Alumni Laureate Award, and secondly, she was invited to attend the historic 85th birthday celebrations of Nelson Mandela in Sandton, Johannesburg.
29.
Amanda Strydom helped to rase funds for the Elijah School Fundraising Project by performing her first one-woman show State of Heart in Jeffreys Bay.
30.
Amanda Strydom sang with the University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra at the centenary celebrations of her alma mater.
31.
Amanda Strydom is working on a new project with Lize Beekman.