In November 2004, after the death of pop icon Brenda Fassie, singer Lebo Mathosa told the Mail & Guardian in an interview: ”You can’t deny death, you can’t fear it. I’m sure God has a better place for us, if you’re a believer.”
Two years later, in a twist of fate, 29-year-old Mathosa, like her controversial role model, has moved on to that ”better place”.
The R&B and kwaito singer died in a car accident east of Johannesburg on October 23 when her driver lost control of the car and it vehicle overturned, killing Mathosa instantly.
Mathosa, whose music also incorporated elements of African music, dance and funk, was born on July 16 1977 and started singing at the age of seven for her church. She moved to Johannesburg when she was 14 and joined the music industry as a teenager in Hillbrow.
In 1994 she shot to fame as the lead vocalist and dancer for kwaito — or ”bubblegum”, as Mathosa called it — group Boom Shaka. As part of Boom Shaka, Mathosa courted controversy in her daring skirt lengths and sexy dance moves, but the group became multi-platinum-sellers and icons of post-apartheid music.
She launched her solo career in 2000 with her debut album, Dream, which won her three South African Music Awards in 2001.
Her album Drama Queen, released in 2004, won best dance album at the South African Music Awards in 2005 and her last album, Lioness, dived deeper into traditional and Afro-pop music.
Mathosa was lucky enough to be one of the few South African performers who was constantly in demand on the performance circuit, regardless of whether she had an album on the charts.
She performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town, at the Celebrate South Africa concert in London’s Trafalgar Square and at Nelson Mandela’s 85th birthday in front of 16 000 people.
Mathosa was also featured on American R&B star Keith Sweat’s All Africa Album, acted in South African television shows Generations, Backstage and Muvhango and was nominated as one of Africa’s sexiest women by FHM magazine.
Described as a fun-loving person by her colleagues in the music industry, Mathosa was a powerful artist who demanded attention on stage and whose live acts were spectacular.
Her performance at the Kora Awards in 2004 was labelled as the ”most outstanding performance of the year” by the Star Tonight.
South African pop star Danny K, who toured many times with Mathosa, said that at an MTV base show where they performed together Mathosa ”just blew everyone off the stage”.
”She left me very inspired in what effort she went to in her live shows … she loved what she did and she was good at it,” he told the M&G Online.
Mathosa will not only be missed by the music industry but on all levels of South African society — even on a government level.
Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said on Monday: ”We will always remember her as a highly gifted, young African ‘drama queen’ who used her life, talent and career to promote pride, respect and appreciation for African music, dance, fashion, heritage, art and culture.”
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) also expressed its grief over her death.
”Lebo Mathosa was a friend and had a special relationship with the ANCYL. Through her music, she will be remembered as an icon, inspirator, artist, entertainer and as part of a generation that revolutionised our music industry,” said ANCYL spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
Young Communist League (YCL) secretary Buti Manamela said Mathosa’s ”music was an epitaph of the struggle and inspiration to the working class and the poor youth of our country”.
He said the YCL was devastated and shocked to learn about the untimely death of Mathosa, ”a pioneer of cultural revolution and kwaito music in our country”.
A former public relations officer for EMI, Boyce Fiyo, worked closely with Mathosa for three years. He said she was a ”kind of ambassador for South Africa” and that the South African music industry has lost an icon.
”She was representing the country through her music throughout the African continent … everybody said that Lebo stood out,” he said.
Fiyo reminisced about a 2005 tour to Port Elizabeth with Mathosa, remembering Mathosa’s ”jolliness” and good sense of humour. ”It’s always hard to wake people up on tour, so Lebo said, ‘Let’s make a time to meet and if you’re not here we’ll leave that person behind,”’ he said.
Linzi Cowley, Mathosa’s manager, said the singer was ”a loving and hard-working person”. Even though their relationship was only a few months old, Cowley and Mathosa had become friends.
Big Boy Mlangeni, marketing manager for Mathosa’s first label, Bula Records, said Mathosa was an artist that everybody loved. ”I believe that anything that happens, there’s a purpose. [Mathosa’s death] was from God himself,” he said.
Funeral details were not available at the time of going to press.