 Brenda
Fassie
Queen of the night
By Wayua Muli
Long hailed as South
Africa's undisputed Queen of the Vocals, Brenda Fassie first hit
the radios and townships of Johannesburg with her tune 'Weekend
Special' way back in 1986.
Born in Langa, Cape Town,
in 1964, Brenda's first musical endeavour was at the age of
four, when, inspired by her pianist mother, she formed a singing
group. By the time she was 14, she had already moved to
Johannesburg to seek her fortune. Using the South Western
Townships (Soweto) as her base, Brenda was asked to stand in for
an absent member of one of the hotter groups of that era, called
Joy. Hers was instant success. Joining two other groups, Blondie
and Papa then the Big Dudes in quick succession, it was not long
before Brenda was recording her solo debut, 'Weekend Special'.
Soon, the song was a hit even in Britain. Never forsaking her
township roots, Brenda stayed in Soweto even as she rose to
become the country's biggest star. Reknown for her generosity
and kindness of spirit, Brenda would leave her doors open for
strangers to walk into her house and say hello. Never one to
hold money too dearly, she was overly generous with her
possessions and her money. But by 1986, this 21-year old had
become an old guard on the entertainment scene. And it was
becoming obvious that fame had come to Brenda too early, too
fast. Brenda herself, in characteristic openness and honesty
soon confirmed rumours that she was a drug-addict and a lesbian.
Unfortunately, the admission that she was a lesbian started to
erode her image irrevocably.
The early nineties were
turbulent times for Brenda. Introduced to drugs around this time
by a Nigerian bodyguard, what started as an occasional
indulgence for cocaine soon turned into an imprisoning
addiction. The free-fall that her life had become gathered
momentum in this period. In 1990, she was sued for fraud
together with then husband, Nhlanhla Mbambo and former boyfriend
Eric Mbeko. Her marriage to Mbambo broke up the next year, when
she called him a leech, a lecher and a wife-beater in the press.
Various concert promoters also sued her and the public boycotted
her music after she failed to attend scheduled concerts in
Soweto.
In 1992, she was convicted
of assaulting a photojournalist. This was also the year that one
of her former lovers went public with an account of his
miserable life with Brenda. In 1993, her mother died. Her
long-time manager and friend, Sello Chicco Twala, abandoned her
later that year, and she lost both her apartment and her house,
located in up-market parts of Johannesburg. Her son Bongani was
thrown out of school for non-payment of fees. And 14 years after
her first hit, Brenda's only claim to fame was the now-outdated
'Weekend Special'.
In 1994, in a
cocaine-induced haze, Brenda barely got through the recording of
her next album, 'Abantu Bayakhuluma'. The album immediately
after this, titled 'Now is the Time', featured an ingenious duet
with maestro Papa Wemba. Once asked about the experience of
working with him, she said, "I can't remember a thing, I was so
high."
It was around this time
that her closest friend and lover, Poppie Sihlahla, died of a
drug overdose in Johannesburg's seedy Hillbrow suburb. Brenda
and she had rented a room in a hotel in the area, where they
would free-base and binge on cocaine. One night, Poppie was
discovered lying in bed unconscious, with Brenda next to her in
a drugged stupor. Poppie was rushed to hospital, but died on the
way there. Later, Brenda was reported to have said that Poppie
died of asthma-related conditions, and that she had never been a
drug-addict.
 Whatever
the case, Poppie's death inspired Brenda to come out of her
stupor and start some serious work. In 1997, she started
recording what was to be her comeback album, 'Memeza'.
"Tell everyone Brenda's
back," she said. It became her anthem. And when 'Memeza' went on
to become South Africa's best selling album of 1998, this anthem
became fact. But the spectre of her drug-addict life still
haunted her, and there were occasional lapses. Once, scheduled
to grace a fashion show in Johannesburg's Hyde Park Corner,
Brenda arrived there late and drunk, and unfit to perform.
Yvonne Chaka Chaka was called in to take her place, and Brenda's
management company was left to refund the R4,000 (Sh40,000) fees
that they had already been paid, plus the R1,500 (Sh15,000) that
they had paid in airfare for Brenda, her then boyfriend Ludwe
Gift Zikalala and her secretary, Oscar Tyumre, from Durban to
Johannesburg.
Not long after that, she
was in the news again. This time, another jilted girlfriend of
hers, Karen Baker, was in the limelight with claims that Brenda
had borrowed money and sundry items from her and refused to
return them. The items included a cell-phone, a television set
and a radio.
"We stopped seeing each
other last November," Karen said. "She knows deep in her heart
that she owes me. I just want what's rightfully mine - I want my
things back. She has used me and now she's reacting negatively."
According to Brenda, Karen
was just a scorned woman looking for revenge.
"She wants to be my
girlfriend - she wants me to sleep with her, to hold and touch
her," she said on live radio one evening. "I admit to selling
the TV set and the cell-phone, but we sold those together - we
wanted to buy drugs."
Her hit song, 'Vulindlela',
off the 'Memeza' album was, in the meantime, doing very well -
so well that Brenda could now afford to start building a
luxurious house in the suburbs of Jo'burg. It also seemed that
Brenda had found lasting love again; having broken up with Ludwe
earlier on, Brenda had now settled for a man 15 years her
junior, called Landile Shembe. Three months after they got
together, he proposed to her at her 36th birthday bash...and
dumped her five days later. This time Brenda was in the news
again with claims that he was a con-man who was only after her
money, and that her son Bongani, now 14, was the person who had
warned her against marrying Landile.
This apparent heartache
has not stopped her star from rising; her current album, 'Nomakanjani'
went triple platinum in November of last year, and various
concerts have seen her reach beyond her southern borders into
east and central Africa. Whatever else may happen in this
baby-woman's turbulent, life, one thing is obvious; she will
always be South Africa's Kwaito Queen.
 Brenda
Fassie recently married her gorgeous lesbian lover Sindi
Nkambule in a spectacular gay wedding in Yeoville, Johannesburg
on Friday.
Onlookers at Fassie's
unconventional wedding at Time Square, a popular hangout,
watched goggle eyed as the pop star publicly embraced her
lesbian lover, who is known for her tantrums. Jay Manakaza, a
popular hairdresser and former drag queen officiated in the
absence of a pastor at his-her hair salon, on which the gay
community had converged in grand style.
A happy Fassie declared
her undying love for the woman whom many consider to be a pillar
of her strength for her after countless earlier failed romances
had left Fassie in tears. After the simple but nonetheless
glamorous ceremony Fassie and her "wife" were whisked away in a
white Mercedes-Benz to the yearly Metro FM Awards at the
Helderfontein Estate in Lone Hill north of Johannesburg.
The two lovebirds have had
an on-and-off affair for the past two years, with shouting
matches that have almost become legendary, and violent fights in
public. Earlier this year the Weekend Special crooner claimed
Nkambule was grossly abusive and beat her up regularly whenever
they had an argument. When she was admitted to the Elim Clinic
in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Fassie accused Nkambule of leading
her astray and introducing her to the life of highs and trips.
Fassie also described
Nkambule as a "gold-digger", who was only interested in her
money and fame. It seems that everything has changed - at least
for now.
Source:
http://www.nationaudio.com/96-4NATION/feature13.htm
http://www.mask.org.za/SECTIONS/AfricaPerCountry/ABC/south%20africa/south%20africa_11.html
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