On November 9, 2008, Zenzile Miriam Makeba died aged 76. She was singer, songwriter, actress, civil rights activist, and United Nations goodwill ambassador, nicknamed Mama Africa. She was the first African woman to win a “Grammy Award” (for “Best Folk Recording” in 1966 with Harry Belafonte for “An Evening with Belafonte and Makeba”). Makeba popularized African music among Western audience. Few of her popular songs were critical of apartheid, making her a symbol of opposition to the apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa. Upon her death, former Nelson Mandela said “her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us.”
Tag Archives: civil rights activist
John Hammond
On July 10, 1987, John Henry Hammond II died aged 76. He was record producer, music critics, civil rights activist, and music scout, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century modern music. As “Columbia Records” company executive and as a record producer, he supported numerous musical careers, including those of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Russell, Harry James, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Jim Copp, Asha Puthli, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mike Bloomfield. He also initiated the revival of delta blues legend Robert Johnson’s music. He is the father of blues musician John P. Hammond.
musicalphabet 