Miriam Makeba

Miriam Zenzile Makeba

Nickname: 'Mama Africa'

Legendary South African Singer

Born 04-03-1932 in Johannesburg

Deceased

Miriam Makeba was a Grammy Award winning South African singer. Her remarkable voice helped her win the role of lead singer in King Kong, a Broadway-inspired SA musical. Makeba did a 14 month worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life. In 2004 she was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. She died in Castel Volturno, near Caserta, Italy, on 9 November 2008, from a heart attack. On 25, 26, and 27 September 2009, a tribute show to Makeba entitled "Hommage a Miriam Makeba" and curated by Grammy Award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist Angelique Kidjo for the Festival d'Ile de France, was held at the Cirque d'hiver in Paris. The same show but with the English title of "Mama Africa: Celebrating Miriam Makeba" was held at the Barbican in London on 21 November 2009.