Grammy Award winner Miriam Makeba is born in Johannesburg

Miriam Zenzile Makeba was born in Johannesburg on 4 March 1932 to a Swati mother and a Xhosa father. Her mother was a sangoma and a domestic worker while her father worked as a clerk for Shell. Makeba began singing in the school choir at Kilnerton Training Institute in Pretoria.  In 1957, Makeba joined the group, the Manhattan brothers and thus began her professional singing career. She toured with the group internationally, which propelled her career to superstardom. After spending a few years in the US,  Makeba discovered that she couldn’t return to South Africa, since her passport had been cancelled. She lived in the US and in several African countries before she returned to South Africa in 1990. She has won several awards for her music, including a Grammy. She was married five times, including to Harry Belafonte and Hugh Masekela. Makeba died on 9 November 2008  while taking part in a concert in Italy.