Lebo Mathosa was a rising South African pop star whose powerful voice and provocative dance style had won her many fans for more than a decade before she died in a car accident. She was often compared to anti-apartheid Afropop singer Brenda Fassie, who was her idol and taught her how to dress and dye her hair blonde. She first became known through her work with the kwaito music group “Boom Shaka.” Later, she made a name for herself as a solo artist. She won several awards for her first album, “Dream,” and her second album, “Drama Queen,” at the “South African Music Awards.” Her third album was nominated for the “Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards” in the UK. She was famous all over the world, and she performed with a lot of black artists like Keith Sweat, P Diddy, and 2Face Idiba. She was also an activist who fought for women’s rights and helped raise awareness about AIDS. Keabetswe “KB” Motsinyalane played her in the biographical miniseries “Dream: The Lebo Mathosa Story” on the BET Africa Network.
Early years and childhood
Lebo Mathosa was born to Nomvula Magdeline and Madimetsha Gerriet Mathosa on July 16, 1977, in Daveyton, a township on the East Rand of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her family first moved to Pietersburg, and then to Johannesburg, where she went to St. Mary’s High School. She started singing in a church choir when she was seven years old. When she moved to Johannesburg, she heard Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s bubblegum music with disco beats.
When she was 14, her singing and dancing caught the attention of a popular DJ in Johannesburg. Fassie then took the 14-year-old under her wing and hailed her as the next Brenda Fassie.
Boom Shaka’s Career
When music producer Don Laka heard Lebo Mathosa singing in a club in Johannesburg, he asked her to join the group “Boom Shaka.” This was the start of her career. The group was one of the first to make kwaito, a type of house music that uses African sounds and samples. Within a short time, they became very popular. The group’s first single, “It’s About Time,” came out in 1993, and their first album came out the following year. By the mid-1990s, they were one of the most popular bands in South Africa. They made sure that their unique sound, look, and dance moves would appeal to young people all over the country. They often took their dance moves from traditional African dances. But some people said that the group’s popularity was partly due to Mathosa’s dance routine and revealing clothes when she was a teenager. This shocked many people, who saw her bravery as putting women down. When the group did a kwaito version of the South African national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel ‘iAfrika, at the 1997 FNB “South African Music Awards,” they were also accused of degrading people in the name of freedom.
Solo Career
In 1999, when “Boom Shaka” was at the top of its popularity, Lebo Mathosa left to start a solo career. This led to the group’s breakup. She also negotiated full publishing rights for her work, which was unheard of in the South African music scene at the time. She put out her first solo album, “Dream,” in the middle of 2000, and it was certified gold within a month. She won “Best Female Vocalist” at the “South African Music Awards” in 2000. She also won “Best Dance Album” for “Dream” and “Best Dance Single” for “Ntozabantu,” which was her first single. In 2001, she went to London, England, to perform at a party in Trafalgar Square honoring the fact that South Africa had become a multiracial democracy. She also played at the North Sea Jazz Festival in South Africa that same year. After Brenda Fassie’s death in 2004, which was thought to be caused by drugs, people started comparing her to her idol. But at the time, she said that she would “learn from the bad and the good” and not do the things that Fassie was known for. In 2004, when there were rumours that she had died, she released her second album, “Drama Queen.” The title was a good description of her life, which was full of tantrums, fast cars, and drinking. The album broke out of the kwaito mould by combining different styles. It went to the top of the South African music charts and won the “SA Music Award for Best Dance Album.” She became even more of a sex icon when she appeared in the South African version of “The Vagina Monologues” in 2004. This version was also a strong feminist statement. She quickly became a role model for many young South African women, and she was called “The New Madonna of the Townships” because of how feminist she was and how shockingly sexual she was onstage.
Her third album, “Lioness,” came out in 2006. It got her a nomination for “Best African Act” at Britain’s annual “Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards” in 2006.
A Career in Acting
Lebo Mathosa had tried acting before when she was a guest star on the South African soap opera “Muvhango” in 1997. She got more chances to act after the success of her first album. She was a guest star on soap operas like “Generations” and “Backstage,” and she also played a role in the 2003 movie “Soldiers of the Rock.”
Family and other things
In 2002, Lebo Mathosa accidentally showed that she was gay when she got into a fight with her actress friend Hlubi Mboya at the “South African Music Awards” for “talking to my girl” Sibongile Ngubane. But she later called “City Press” to say that she couldn’t be a lesbian because “I lost my virginity to a man when I was 14.”
She had planned to start her own record label and was almost done with her fourth album when she died in a car accident on October 23, 2006, just after midnight. She was 29 years old. She was going from one party to another when her driver lost control of her luxury Toyota Prado Land Cruiser on the N3 highway near Germiston on the East Rand.
A few days later, her family, close friends, and former bandmates paid tribute to her at her memorial service at the Sandton Convention Centre. The 20-year-old driver of her car, who was not hurt in the accident, was asked for forgiveness.
The Lebo Mathosa Story, a six-part biographical miniseries about her, started airing on BET Africa Network on November 6, 2019, 13 years after her death. Fans were mostly let down by the much-hyped series because it had a boring plot and Keabetswe “KB” Motsinyalane did not do the diva justice in their eyes.
Trivia
“Sunday World” talked to Sibongile Ngubane about her role as Lebo Mathosa’s “lover” in the BET biopic series, which she called an “emotional roller coaster.” Mathosa was one of the many women who Theophilus “Doctor” Khumalo, a retired South African football player, dated.
