1. Raymond Chikapa Enock Phiri was a South African jazz, fusion and mbaqanga musician born in Mpumalanga to Thabethe Phiri, a Malawian immigrant worker, and South African guitarist nicknamed "Just Now" Phiri.
11 Facts About Ray Phiri
1. 2.
Ray Phiri was a founding member of the Cannibals in the 1970s.
3.
Ray Phiri collaborated with Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Simon's Graceland album.
4.
Ray Phiri was born near Nelspruit in the then Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga Province, in South Africa.
5.
Ray Phiri was to collaborate with Simon again on Simon's Rhythm of the Saints, which saw him perform in over 30 nations during 1990 and 1991, including in Paul Simon's Concert in the Park and at New York's Madison Square Garden, as well as appearing on Saturday Night Live and other top television shows in the United States.
6.
Ray Phiri maintained that Simon never gave him credit for the songs he had written for Graceland, and that Ladysmith Black Mambazo "hardly got any royalties".
7.
In 2012, Simon organised a European Graceland 25th Anniversary Tour in which Ray Phiri contributed his voice, guitar and leadership.
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Paul Simon 8.
Ray Phiri was involved in a series of car accidents which affected his personal life and musical career.
9.
In 2003, his wife was killed in a car accident, but Ray Phiri escaped serious injury.
10.
Ray Phiri was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 70 on 12 July 2017 at a Nelspruit hospital.
11.
Ray Phiri has received many awards in recognition for his contribution in the music industry, one of these is the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver awarded to him by the South African president.