Miriam Makeba, Africa’s first Grammy Award Winner

Zenzile Miriam Makeba, popularly known as Mama Africa, was a South African music icon born on March 4, 1932. She is one of the first African musicians to gain worldwide recognition after starting her singing career in her primary school choir in Pretoria.

She had a difficult upbringing during the apartheid days in South Africa. Makeba worked as a nanny and domestic worker for rich white families. She was married at 17 and sufferred an abusive marriage.


She started her professional musical career with the Cuban Brothers, a South African all-male group. They sang covers of popular American songs.

At 21, she joined the jazz group, the Manhattan Brothers as the only woman and they sang South African songs and a mix of popular African-American songs. She recorded her first hit, “Laku Tshoni Ilanga” with the group in 1953 which shot her into the fame.


Makeba later joined a new all-woman group in 1956 called the Skylarks. They sang a blend of jazz and traditional South African melodies.

In 1956, Makeba released her first solo project called “Lovely Eyes”. This record became the first from South Africa to chart on the United States Billboard Top 100.

She later sang as the lead female role in the South African jazz opera King Kong with late musician Hugh Masekela whom she married briefly later in life.

She started acting in 1959 as a guest actor in 'Come Back, Africa', an anti-apartheid film produced and directed by the American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. Makeba’s role in Come Back, Africa brought her international recognition and she travelled to London and New York to perform. She later featured in the Cosby Show and starred in 'Sarafina'.


Makeba’s career flourished in the United States with the support of Belafonte. She recorded dozens of records and signed to record label RCA Victor. Back home in South Africa, her passport was cancelled and her mother and other family members had been killed in the Sharpeville massacre.

Miriam Makeba had a lot of awards and recognition including the Grammy Award in 1966 with Harry Belafonte for the 1965 album, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba; a Polar Music Prize; Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize; Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold among other awards.


After the apartheid regime was toppled, Miriam Makeba returned to South Africa after persuasion by Nelson Mandela in 1990 after he was released.

Miriam Makeba worked with several international organisations as a goodwill ambassador including the United Nations while she released hit records.

On 9 November 2008, Makeba suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song “Pata Pata” at a concert in Castel Volturno, near Caserta, Italy. She was taken to the Pineta Grande clinic, where doctors were unable to revive her. She died at age 76.

She may be gone, but her memories will forever remain in Africa’s heart.

Thank you for opening doors for Africa...

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