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| Margaret Singana |
| Born in 1938 Died in 2000 after a long illness at the age of 62. |
| Margaret Singana was born Margaret Mcingana in 1938 in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape of Africa. In the 1950's Margaret moved to Johannesburg in search of fame but, due to the influx control laws, she ended up as a domestic worker. Her employer soon recognised her talent for singing and introduced her to a recording company. In the meantime she associated herself with Dorkay house to promote herself as an artist. She soon started performing with The Symbols, in 1972 and made "Good Feelings" with the band. She became the first black artist to be featured on Africa's Radio 5 hit parade. Margaret ‘s song "I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You" became a hit. In 1973, Margaret was cast as the lead singer in the musical "Ipi Ntombi" and soon made herself famous with the song "Mama Tembu’s Wedding." The production toured Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. During this time Margaret also starred in "Sponono," a production by Alan Paton, which showed in New York. Margaret sang guest vocals on Rabbitt's version of "Tribal Fence" from the "Croak and Grunt In The Night" album. Trevor Rabin (from Rabbitt) returned the favor by becoming involved in her 1976 "Where Is The Love" album playing guitar, keyboards, bass and co-producing with Patrick van Blerk and Allan Goldberg. The album released in America on the Casablanca label spawned the title hit as well as "I Do Surrender" on the club scene. Margaret then covered a number of classic South African rock tracks, including Freedoms Children's "Tribal Fence" written by Ramsay MacKay, Julian Laxton's "Johannesburg" and Hawk's "Orang Outang" for her second and last disco outing in 1977. Margaret, known as “Lady Africa” in Southern Africa, suffered from bad health starting in 1980, but despite this continued to record. She made a comeback in 1986 when she returned to sing "We Are Growing," the theme song from the television series "Shaka Zulu." The song eventually went to number 1 in the Netherlands in 1989. Other recordings she made during this time include "Nothing To Fear" and "Music For Africa." The wheelchair bound and penniless Margaret died in 2000, after a long illness. |
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