Margaret Singana
Margaret M'cingana (stage name: Margaret Singana) (1938-2000) [1] was a South African musician, singer and actress - popularly known as "Lady Africa".
Contents
Biography
Born in Queenstown, she came to Johannesburg to seek fame in the 1950s.
She died a virtual pauper in April 2000 at the age of 63, a year after the death of her husband Mongezi Velelo.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
A hugely popular singer from the 1960s till the 1980s, she made her name nationally and internationally as a theatre performer in the smash-hit Ipi Ntombi (Ipi Tombi), credited for the world wide hit-song “Mama Thembu’s Wedding” from the show. From there she went on to star in a number of other stage, film and TV shows abroad. During the 1970s judged one of the Artists of the Year by the British magazine Music Week.
in 1966, she appeared in Gibson Kente's musical, Sikalo.
Margaret's career was cut short when she suffered a stroke during a performance at the now demolished Colosseum Theatre in downtown Johannesburg in 1978.
Sources
The Star, 26 April 2000.
Mail & Guardian, 28 April - 4 May 2000.
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