1. Brenda Nokuzola Fassie was a South African singer, songwriter, dancer and activist.
19 Facts About Brenda Fassie
1. 2.
Brenda Nokuzola Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town on 3 November 1964, the youngest of nine children.
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Brenda Fassie was named after the American singer Brenda Lee.
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Brenda Fassie's father died when she was only two years old; with the help of her mother, a pianist, she soon started earning money by singing for tourists.
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Brenda Fassie had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician.
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Brenda Fassie married Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989, but the pair divorced in 1991.
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Brenda Fassie used her music to oppose the apartheid regime in South Africa.
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Brenda Fassie became embroiled in South Africa's first industry beef when she was savagely dissed by controversial rapper Senyaka in his 1993 song, "Ma-Gents".
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Brenda Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on track.
10.
The post-mortem report revealed that Brenda Fassie had taken an overdose of cocaine on the night of her collapse, and this was the cause of her coma.
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Brenda Fassie stopped breathing and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen.
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Brenda 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.
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Brenda Fassie died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital, without regaining consciousness, after her life support machines were turned off.
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Brenda Fassie's family were at her side when she died.
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Brenda Fassie won five South African Music Awards: Best Female Artist and Song of the Year in 1999, Best-Selling Release of the Decade and Best Song of the Decade in 2004, and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
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Brenda Fassie won three Kora Awards: Most Promising Female Artist of Africa and Best Female Artist of Africa in 1996, and the Jury Special Award in 2001.
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Brenda Fassie was voted 17th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
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Brenda Fassie contributed to Mandoza's album Tornado, Miriam Makeba's album Sangoma, and Harry Belafonte's anti-apartheid album Paradise in Gazankulu.
19.
Brenda Fassie sang on two of the soundtrack albums for Yizo Yizo.