Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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FASSIE, Brenda

South African vocalist and songwriter (d 9 May 2004 aged 39). Raised in a township outside Cape Town, like Nelson Mandela she belongs to the Madiba clan of the Xhosas; accordingly she is referred to as his tribal 'niece'. Sang with Brenda and the Big Dudes, went solo '87, signed to US SBK label '90 after they heard her 'Black President' single, which had been banned in South Africa. Her public life became as much the subject for conversation as her music-making. Rigid divisions between black and white music in South Africa at the time meant that despite enormous sales within the black community she was guaranteed to be largely unknown to white South Africans, but songs did not eschew political points or protests. Her song 'Good Black Woman' is based on an incident in which, with a white policeman's gun pointing at her head, she revealed where one of her missing brothers was; at the time she was ten, but the experience reflected and typified the experiences of other black South Africans. Needless to say the record was banned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Typically each album contained at least one such song ensuring an unbroken succession of banned albums, which didn't seem to hurt sales: she has sold more albums than any other native black South African singer. Despite this, she said, 'I still get stopped in my car and asked what a black girl is doing with a BMW, and they leer when they ask where I got the money -- even though they know damn well who I am -- and I still have to bite my tongue and say nothing, because one word -- one word -- and they will take you off and beat the hell out of you, or rape you' (interview with Rodney Tyler in You magazine, the Mail on Sunday '91). She died of brain damage after a severe asthma attack.