Bongi Makeba


Bongi Makeba was a South African singer/songwriter. She was the only child of singer Miriam Makeba with her first husband, James Kubay.

Biography

Angela Sibongile Makeba was born in South Africa in 1950, when her mother was 18 years old. The name Bongi by which she became known is a shortened version of her middle name Sibongile, which means "We are grateful". In 1959 her mother's career took her to New York, where she remained in exile after being barred from returning to South Africa, and in 1960 was joined by Bongi, who stayed with friends while her mother toured the world.
In 1967 she and Judy White, daughter of Josh White, signed to Buddha Records as "Bongi and Judy", their first release being "Runnin' Out" and "Let's Get Together". At the age of 17, Makeba met her American husband Harold Nelson Lee, with whom in the early to mid-1970s she made two 7" records as "Bongi and Nelson", featuring two soul tracks arranged by George Butcher: "That's the Kind of Love" backed by "I Was So Glad", and "Everything, For My Love" with "Do You Remember, Malcolm?". She recorded only one solo album, Bongi Makeba, Blow On Wind, in 1980. Some of her songs could be heard years later in her mother's repertoire. Two of them, "Malcolm X" and "Lumumba" extol assassinated black leaders.
Makeba had three children: Nelson Lumumba Lee, Zenzi Monique Lee, and a son, Themba, who died as a young child.
She died aged 34 in 1985 of complications following childbirth and was buried in Conakry, Guinea, where her mother had moved after her 1968 marriage to Stokely Carmichael.

Discography