Zahara (South African musician)


Bulelwa Mkutukana, best known by her stage name Zahara, is a South African singer and songwriter. She started singing in her school's choir when she was six years old, and at the age of nine she was told to join the senior choir because of her strong voice.
In 2011 Zahara released her debut album Loliwe, which went platinum in 13 days and double platinum after 17 days, selling over 100,000 copies in South Africa. The music video for her debut single, Loliwe, has surpassed the 5 million views mark on YouTube. On 30 April 2012, at the annual South African Music Awards, Zahara won eight awards, including "Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" Zahara has also managed to get all her albums nominated for Album of the year and Female artist of the year.Also received Best Produced Album award for her "Country Girl" album.

Early life

Zahara was born as 'Bulelwa Mkutukana' in the Phumlani Informal Settlement outside of East London in Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she lived with her parents Nokhaya and Mlamli Mkutukana. She is the sixth of seven children. She displayed her love for singing at age 6. She first came to wider attention when she was appointed the lead singer of a local Sunday school choir in Phumlani. Her stage name means "blooming flower"; as a child she was known by the nickname "Spinach".

Music career

Her music is classified loosely as "Afrosoul" and she sings in her native language, Xhosa, as well as in English. Her music has been described as a mixture of styles that have been popularized by Tracy Chapman and India.Arie.
Zahara started her career busking on the streets of East London. She was spotted by TK Nciza of TS Records, who signed her to his label.
Zahara's debut album Loliwe was released in 2011. The first issue sold out within 72 hours, and 19 days later, the album reached double platinum status in South Africa by surpassing the 100,000 sales mark. This made her the second musician after Brenda Fassie, who was also a Xhosa native, to reach this figure in such record time. Zahara released her first live DVD which featured X-Factor USA contestant LeRoy Bell. The DVD reached platinum in one day.
On 1 May 2012, at the annual South African Music Awards, Zahara won eight awards, including "Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year".
In 2013, Zahara released her second studio album, Phendula. Phendula won three South African Music Awards for Best Selling Album, Best R&B, Soul and Reggae Album and Best Female Artist of the Year. The same year, Nelson Mandela invited her to his home to perform a private bedside concert. She then composed "Nelson Mandela" in his honor and released it as an EP.
In July 2014, Zahara's younger brother was murdered in East London. According to Zahara, she went through a period of depression after his death, but recovered enough for the 2015 release of Country Girl.
In 2017, Zahara signed with Warner Music South Africa and released Mgodi, her fourth studio album. The album went gold after only six hours.

Discography

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