Letta Mbulu
Letta Mbulu ( born August 23, 1942 at today's Soweto ) is a South African jazz and pop singer.
Life and work
Mbulu, who grew up in Soweto, first came out as a singer in the vocal group The Skylarks and in the musical King Kong, with whom she performed also in London in 1961. In the following years she sang South African hits like Maru a pula, I Need Your Love, Buza or Everybody Sing Along. In 1965 she was the tightening of apartheid in the United States into exile. There she was - next to Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela - involved in the Concert Sound Of Africa at Carnegie Hall. Subsequently, she worked with Harry Belafonte, but also with Cannonball Adderley; they also wrote songs for Miriam Makeba. Quincy Jones brought her as a singer for his soundtracks of Roots ( where she sang the theme song sang ) and The Color Purple, after she had heard previously been in Sidney Poitiers A Warm December. She also sang the African part in Michael Jackson's song Liberian Girl.
In addition, it was in 1986 involved in the establishment of the South African Artists United. Only in 1991 they returned to their homeland, where they celebrated a great success first on the Unity Festival Apartheid. In 2001 she won the South African Music Award for her lifetime achievements. You musically often collaborates with her husband Caiphus Semenya.
Discography
- Letta Mbulu Sings ( Capitol, 1967)
- Free Soul ( Capitol, 1968)
- Letta ( Chisa, 1970)
- NaturallySpeaking ( Fantasy, 1972)
- There 's Music in the Air ( A & M, 1976)
- Letta (A & M, 1977)
- Letta Mbulu - Gold (A & M, 1978)
- The Best of Letta & Caiphus (Columbia, 1996)
- Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1999)
- Letta Mbulu Sings / Free Soul ( Stateside, 2005)
- Culani Nami (Sony, 2007)