Before social media and celebrity-obsessed magazines Brenda Fassie was one of South Africa’s biggest home-grown music stars and the original “bad girl”. Born in 1964 into a deeply entrenched Apartheid society she defied all conventions to become a true pop idol, today remembered by her songs, among them Weekend Special and Too Late for Mama. She lived life to excess and her trajectory to stardom was as dramatic as her downfall. She died at the age of 39, reportedly of a drug overdose. Time magazine dubbed MaBrrr, as she was known, the 'Madonna of the Townships'. Artist Angus Taylor’s life-size bronze sculpture of her (2006) in the Market Theatre precinct was commissioned by the Sunday Times’ Heritage Project. It was moved from the former Bassline venue in Newtown.
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