Miriam Makeba who lived from March 4, 1932, to November 9, 2008, was a South African singer, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. She was a vocal opponent of apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa and was associated with musical genres such as Afropop, jazz, and world music.
Makeba began her professional musical career with the Cuban Brothers, a South African all-male close harmony group, with whom she sang covers of popular American songs. Soon afterward, at the age of 21, she joined a jazz group, the Manhattan Brothers, who sang a mixture of South African songs and pieces from popular African-American groups.
Miriam Makeba siblings: Meet Joseph Makeba
Makeba was born in Prospect, a black slum in Johannesburg, South Africa. Caswell Makeba, her Xhosa father, was a teacher who died when she was six years old.
Makeba sang in the chorus at her Methodist elementary school in Pretoria, South Africa, when she was a child. She was a Protestant baptized and sang in church choirs in English, Xhosa, Sotho, and Zulu.
She later admitted that she learned to sing in English before she could speak it. Her ability for singing garnered her recognition at school, and her teachers picked her out for special attention.
