Rebecca Malope
Rebecca Malope is South Africa`s greatest gospel star who has sold millions of records worldwide. She has 27 years in the industry and 33 successful albums under her belt, Rebecca Malope is one of South Africa’s biggest selling artists, but her road to fame wasn´t always an easy one (read more link to biography page)….
It may be hard to believe now but in the 1980s Rebecca was living a semi-rural life at home, working on a tobacco farm, earning a ration of mealie-meal, beans, salt and sugar and R10,50 a week. Barely able to read and write and in possession of just a handful of English words, Rebecca had only managed to reach standard five (something she always regrets and the singer has since vigorously made up for her lack of education by taking several courses over the years and always preaching the value of education to her fans).
Born in a little rural township called Lekazi near the Kruger National Park, Rebecca hit the road in 1986 at the age of 18 and hitched a 400 kilometers ride to Johannesburg together with her sister Cynthia. Soon she began singing as the female lead vocalist in a two-woman, nine-man outfit called Safika. “We stayed in a two-room shack belonging to a coal merchant,” Rebecca relates. “There was no furniture, just a lot of empty bottles and cases of beer. We put the cases together and put old door-frames on top. These were our beds. I kept thinking, I want to go back home to my parents. But I knew they would be cross with me”, she recalls.
In 1986 Rebecca entered the “Shell Road to Fame” competition in a group but they did not win. However, her vocal abilities stood out and a budding music producer saw the talent that the little 18 year old had and convinced her to try out again the following year as a solo artist singing a song composed specifically to fit that powerful voice. The following year, Rebecca entered the talent search again and won in the category “Best Female Vocalist” with the song “Shine On” produced by composer and producer Sizwe Zakho. Aside from her obvious vocal magnetism, Rebecca’s performance at that event is memorable for other reasons – not least of which was the way her poverty at the time forced her to compromise on her stage clothes. “I couldn’t afford the right garments for the glittering occasion,” she recalled in an interview. “I borrowed the baggy pants from Tu Nokwe … and jazz singer, Mara Louw lent me her evening top and a broad belt … It was a gesture that I will remember for as long as I live.”
In spite of scooping the Shell Road To Fame award, Rebecca didn’t immediately step into a glittering career. She worked with Sizwe and (manager) Peter Tladi, they were able to raise enough money to record Rebecca’s debut album, Thank You Very Much (1989). Their confidence was rewarded: the cd sold ballistic, hit the top of the charts and reached gold status (25 000 units) within a few weeks. The next three albums of Rebecca Malope reached gold, while all further albums became platinum discs.
Gospel is always where Rebecca’s heart has lain – after all, it was faith that enabled her to overcome the adverse conditions of her life and “Shine On” was the title of the song that got her the attention at that Shell Road to Fame concert. Yet, in spite of her spectacular gospel voice, there were several attempts to place Rebecca in the township pop genre for the first few years of her professional career. Songs like “Ma G-Man”, “Cheated” and “Saturday Night” were no shabby affairs but it was her Gospel songs that got Rebecca’s fans talking at her increasingly-popular live shows.
Rebecca’s music indeed reaches people from all walks of life and from all over the world. Some of her performing successes include: singing at Nelson Mandela’s Presidential inauguration in 1994; performing with the National Symphony Orchestra in 1994; playing the Pretoria State Theatre in 1995; packing out the Natal Playhouse Opera Theatre in November 1997; igniting the stage at a Gospel festival in Washington DC in 1997, and performing in countries like Israel (where she made history by travelling to Israel where a CCV TV crew shot a 52-minute Easter special for national broadcast on Good Friday, 15 April 1995), the UK, America and many African countries including the DRC and Zambia.
Despite all of these tremendous accomplishments and accolades, heartaches and struggles, Rebecca refuses to forget her roots and her biggest mentor, her Lord. And she’s always pushing herself forward – in particular honing her songwriting talent. Since she joined SAMRO Rebecca has notified more than 70 songs!
Rebecca has since released 32 albums in a music career spanning over 27 years to date. In 2009 she released her 30th album titled My Hero containing double CDs. In April 2010 she released her 31st album. In her almost three decade’s career, she has proved that relevance and resounding with your fans is a great recipe for success. On Monday 14th March, Rebecca Malope released her 32nd album titled “Ukuthula”, which translates to English as Peace. Rebecca was quoted in a local newspaper saying “In Ukuthula people must expect rejuvenating sounds and I love the whole album. I decided on that name after thinking about the state the world is in today.“People have no peace. There is war everywhere, even in churches. I want people to come together and more importantly have peace in their lives, so that we can have peace in the world,” said Rebecca.
To add to her singing, producing and performing talents, Miss Malope hosts the local Gospel music TV show “It’s Gospel Time”. She has also appeared in movies and soapies portraying various characters from a homeless person to a preacher’s wife and continues to uplift the South African community by giving back to various charity organizations every year.
She is currently working on her own talk show which will focus on uplifting the South African community and addressing issues which affect South Africans on a daily basis. It will, like her music, be targeting people of all walks of life and this time, she will not only be addressing gospel music lovers.
Miss Malope is also soon to release her 5th Live DVD and 33rd Album. She is also working on an autobiographical movie and book.
After nearly a decade in the entertainment industry her career is still growing to greater heights. The pint size Dr Rebecca Malope is proof that dynamite definitely comes in small packages!