The Skylarks

about

Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg on 4 March 1932. Her mother was a Swazi sangoma (traditional healer-herbalist). Her father, who died when she was six years old, was a Xhosa. When she was eighteen days old, her mother was arrested for selling umqombothi, an African homemade beer brewed from malt and cornmeal. Her mother was sentenced to a six-month prison term, so Miriam spent her first six months of life in jail. As a child, she sang in the choir of the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, a primary school that she attended for eight years. In 1950 at the age of eighteen, Makeba gave birth to her only child, Bongi Makeba, whose father was Makeba's first husband James Kubay. Makeba was then diagnosed with breast cancer, and her husband left her shortly afterwards. Her professional career began in the 1950s when she was featured in the South African jazz group the Manhattan Brothers, and appeared for the first time on a poster. She left the Manhattan Brothers to record with her all-woman group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa. As early as 1956, she released the single "Pata Pata", which was played on all the radio stations and made her known throughout South Africa. She had a short-lived marriage in 1959 to Sonny Pillay, a South African singer of Indian descent. Her break came in that year when she had a short guest appearance in Come Back, Africa, an anti-apartheid documentary produced and directed by American

top songs

albums

Make Us One

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The Complete 1950's Masters - Miriam Makeba

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Township Jazz 'N' Jive

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The Very Best of - 1956-1959, Vol. 2

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Swing for Private

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Drunken Confessions

Beginning to See the Light

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African Jazz 'n Jive

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The Very Best of - 1956-1959, Vol. 1

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Mbube - The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Music from South Africa)

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The Harold Arlen Songbook: That Old Black Magic

The Very Best Of (1956-1959), Vol. 1

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