Famous South African Singers

Watkin Tudor Jones, better known as Ninja, is a South African rapper, songwriter, record producer, and director. He is a member of the rap-rave group Die Antwoord. He has been active in the hip hop scene since he was 13 and has played with numerous bands in his career. He is also an occasional actor.

Miriam Makeba was a South African singer, actress, songwriter, civil rights activist, and United Nations goodwill ambassador. One of the first African musicians to make an impact on the international stage, Makeba is credited with popularizing Afropop genres. She also advocated against apartheid through music and played a major role in the civil rights movement.

Brenda Fassie was a South African dancer, singer, songwriter, and activist. Renowned for her bold on-stage antics, Fassie earned the nickname Madonna of The Townships. Also dubbed the Queen of African Pop, Brenda Fassie won five South African Music Awards and three Kora Awards during her illustrious career. She was also named in the Top 100 Great South Africans list.

Dean Geyer is a South African Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and martial artist. Geyer came into prominence after finishing third in the popular Australian singing competition Australian Idol in 2006. He then released his debut album Rush which peaked at number seven on the ARIA Chart. In 2009, he won the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Award under the Fave Hottie category.

Shaun Morgan is a South African singer-songwriter and musician. Morgan has been the longest-serving member of the popular rock band Seether where he plays the guitar and contributes with lyrics and vocals. Shaun Morgan is regarded as one of South Africa's most influential and popular rock guitarists of his generation.

Johnny Clegg was a South African singer-songwriter, musician, dancer, anti-apartheid activist, and anthropologist. An important white figure in the internal resistance to apartheid and a prominent figure in South African popular music, Johnny Clegg formed the band Juluka which became the first South African group in the apartheid era to have a black man as well as a white man.

ZP Theart is a South African singer-songwriter who is currently serving as the lead vocalist for the popular American rock band Skid Row. He is credited with founding the English heavy metal band I Am I where he performs as the lead vocalist.

Blondie Chaplin is a South African guitarist and singer who contributed to the success of the rock band The Flames in the 1960s. He has also served as a backing vocalist, acoustic rhythm guitarist, and percussionist for the world-renowned English rock band The Rolling Stones.

Solomon Linda is best remembered for writing the hit Mbube, later known as Wimoweh and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Part of the Evening Birds, he never got his due and died poor. His family couldn’t afford to build a headstone for his grave until 18 years after his death.

Leon Botha was a South African disk jockey and painter whose association with Die Antwoord made him popular throughout the country. He was also famous for being one of the longest-lived persons with progeria. Leon Botha's life and career inspired the one-act opera Solarize.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka is a South African singer, actress, songwriter, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and teacher. Nicknamed the Princess of Africa, Chaka Chaka has been one of the most prominent figures in South African popular music for nearly three decades. An internationally recognized personality, Chaka Chaka has performed for US President Bill Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II, and South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Jack Parow is a South African rapper who raps predominantly in Afrikaans. Over the years Parow has collaborated with popular musicians and bands like Die Heuwels Fantasties. Parow performed at least once in each of South Africa's nine provinces in 2016 while filming a television series titled Dis Hoe Ons Rol. He also owns an alcohol brand named Parow Brandy.

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Butler is known for his blend of R&B, jazz fusion, and worship music. He first soared to international fame with his Billboard-charting and Grammy-nominated hit Lies. Apartheid has been a main theme of many of his tracks. He won a Sarie Award as a teenager.

South African actor-singer Steve Hofmeyr is best known for his role in Egoli: Place of Gold. He is also the former husband of actor Natasha Sutherland. He seems to have turned into controversy’s favorite child, with exaggerated claims of whites being killed in South Africa and his denial of apartheid.

Caron Bernstein is a painter, model, singer-songwriter and actress, all rolled into one. Born in South Africa, she started modeling for Ford Models at the age of fourteen, debuting in films at the age of 22 with Waxwork II: Lost in Time and shifting her focus to singing at the age of 23. Now a successful portrait-painter, she likes to capture the darker side of her subjects.

Jean-Michel Byron is a South African-born singer-songwriter best known for his association with the popular rock band Toto where he performed as the band's lead vocalist. Despite Byron's initial success with the band, his soul music background did not complement Toto's rock music which resulted in him being ousted. Apart from making music, Jean-Michel Byron also supports charitable organizations.

Lebo Mathosa was a South African singer best remembered for her association with the popular band Boom Shaka. Mathosa is credited with popularizing kwaito music among South African women. Her style, sexuality, and outrageous stage outfits inspired many youngsters and nonconformists. Her life and career inspired the 2019 biopic, Dream: The Lebo Mathosa Story. 

Better known as the resident poet of the space rock band Hawkwind, Robert Calvert was born in South Africa and later moved to England with his family. Initially a building surveyor, he later joined the counterculture movement of the late ‘60s. He is best remembered for songs such as Urban Guerrilla.

Max Theiler was a South African-American virologist and physician. After getting his medical degree in South Africa, he went on to earn a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene in London. During his career, he developed a vaccine against yellow fever, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951. 

Nikki Williams is a South African singer and songwriter. Over the years Nikki Williams has contributed immensely as a songwriter, working with popular singers like Demi Lovato, Lauren Alaina, and Ronnie Milsap. In May 2013, Nikki Williams was included in Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month list. In the same year, she was also featured on the popular TV show, Today. 

Johan Botha was a South African operatic tenor whose career was marked with performances at iconic opera venues like the Vienna State Opera, Opéra Bastille, Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Royal Opera House, and Opera Australia. Johan Botha is credited with recording the most number of operas in the history of South African opera singing.

Simon Nkabinde, better known as Mahlathini, a nickname that referred to his bushy hair, couldn’t afford education and thus grew up working odd jobs. Introduced to music by his elder brother, he later came to be known as the Lion of Soweto for popularizing his groaning style of mbaqanga music.

Stef Bos is a Dutch singer who currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa. Bos fell in love with Afrikaans and South African music after working with South African musicians Tandie Klaasen and Johannes Kerkorrel for an album titled Together as One, which released in 1993. He then decided to move to South Africa where he records songs in Dutch. 

Born to a South African father and a Ghanaian mother, award-winning singer Adina Thembi has made waves in the Afro pop scene. Her music also contains elements of Ghanaian folk music and highlife music, mixed with gospel and African pop. Her track Hear Me won her a Vodafone Ghana Music Award.

Dorothy Masuka was a jazz singer whose music gained popularity in South Africa during the 1950s. Masuka's music had a strong influence on the people of South Africa, so much so that the government banned her song Dr. Malan which was about difficult laws in the country. She was exiled in 1961 when she performed a song for Patrice Lumumba.

Stefan Benz is a South African pop singer who has been winning the hearts of many music lovers all over the world. With songs like Cool 4 Me and Say What's In Your Eyes, Benz has managed to capture the attention of many and is widely being touted as the next Justin Bieber.

Elizabeth Connell, South Africa-born internationally acclaimed operatic soprano, moved to UK on receiving scholarship to London Opera Centre. Two years later she made her debut as mezzo-soprano at Wexford Festival Opera, appearing in the Sydney Opera House in the following year. Later she switched to soprano, spending rest of her life in UK and Australia, excelling in numerous challenging roles.