Jonathan Paul Clegg was a South African musician and anthropologist. He recorded and performed with his bands Juluka and Savuka, and as a solo act, occasionally reuniting with his earlier band partners.
Johnny Clegg was famous for a musician. He performed with his band Juluka. The band which grew to a six-member group by the time it released its first album Universal Men in 1979. Juluka music was both implicitly and explicitly political. The band produced some explicitly political songs such as Work for All picked up on South African trade union slogans in the mid-1980s. The band members have arrested several times and concerts routinely were broken up. Juluka was able to tour internationally, playing in Europe, Canada, and the United States and had two platinum and five gold albums, becoming an international success. The group was disbanded in 1985. He forms his second inter-racial band Savuka in 1986. The group first album Third World Child broke international sales record in several European countries, including France. The band went on to record several more albums, including Heat, Dust, and Dreams, which received a Grammy Award nomination. The band dissolved after Dudu Zulu was shot and killed while attempting to mediate a taxi war in 1993. In the 1990s, He and Mchunu reformed Juluka and released a new album and toured throughout the world with King Sunny Ade. In 1999, he was joined on stage by South African President Nelson Mandela, who danced as he sang the protest song Savuka had dedicated to him Asimbonanga. During Mandela's illness and death in 2013, the video of the concert attracted considerable media attention outside South Africa.
Johnny Clegg was born on June 7, 1953, in Bacup, Lancashire, England, to an English father and Zimbabwean mother. At the age of 6, his parents separated and moved with his mother to Rhodesia. His mother married a South African journalist and immigrated to South Africa when he was seven years old. He spent his year of childhood days in Israel and rest in South Africa. He holds South African nationality and belongs to white ethnicity. His birth sign is Gemini.
He pursued his music career at an early age while he met Sipho Mchunu and started performing music together. Mchunu was a Zulu migrant worker and together they named their partnership as Juluka. He also pursued his academic career by contributing his crucial four years to the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Natal as a lecturer. He was also keen on study Anthropology which he studied during his early music career.
Johnny Clegg died on July 16, 2019, at his family home in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015. He was 66 years old. His death was confirmed by his manager Roddy Quin in a statement on Facebook. His family holds a private funeral service. There will also be a service for the public to pay their respects.
Johnny Clegg was a married man. He married his second wife Jenny Clegg. They had two children named Jesse and Jaron. Jesse is a popular South African singer-songwriter and a renowned recording artist. Johnny and his wife must be proud of their son who has already been nominated for three South African Music Awards.
Johnny Clegg was a musician. His net worth estimated 5 million USD. Some of the wiki sites have named the musician to be one of the highest-paid singers in the world.
Johnny Clegg was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters) by the French Government in 1991.