Preserving South African Musical History
A Johannesburg band formed in 1979 with Rick Wolf on keyboards and vocals, Joe Alves on guitar, Chris Ghelakis on bass, John Weddepohl on vocals and keyboards and Neil McKellar on drums.
The band released an album (City Limits) in 1980 and three singles which met with fair success in South Africa, including on Capital Radio.
They broke up without recording a further album.
A women-only band with Cindi Alter on vocals, Glenda Hyam on keyboards and vocals, Lee Tomlinson on bass and vocals, Jenny Garson on guitar and vocals and Ingi Herbst on drums.
Clout arrived on the South African scene with the single “Substitute” in
1977. The single was very successful in various European countries and in New Zealand. This was followed by further chart success in South Africa and abroad.
Tours to Europe followed. Changing membership ended the women’s-only status of the band in 1978 when Glenda Hyam departed and Sandy Robbie (guitar) and Bones Brettell (keyboards) joined. In 1980 Gary van Zyl replaced Lee Tomlinson on bass.
Clout broke up in 1981.
Singer songwriter who appeared on the Johannesburg folk scene in the late 1960s.
Released the duet “Johnny’s Gun” with Cornelia in 1968. Was prominent on the folk scene throughout the 1970s. He recorded several demos between 1968 and 1977 but it was only in 1980 that he released his first album Born Guilty, with Third Ear Music.
“Dancer” and “Stopping Time” were playlisted on Capital Radio but did not make the Top 40 countdown chart. Despite the lack of commercial success he continued to compose and perform into the 2000s.
Johannesburg-based singer and guitarist who started out with The Anchors, Flaming Souls and Flaming Ghettoes before joining Harari in 1981.
When Harari broke up he assembled a backing band, Lumumba for exiled artists Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya. Lumumba also constituted Condry Ziqubu’s backing band and in 1984 he released his first single along with Lumumba, ”Yellow Mieliemiel”, followed by “Skorokoro” and “Via Orlando” in 1985.
He continued to release singles throughout the eighties and also several albums: Shut Your Mouth (1987), Pick Six (1988), Magic Man (1989) and No Money, No Love (1991).
With the return of exiled musicians in the early 1990s Ziqubu continued as part of Mbulu and Semanya’s backing band but also performed solo on occasions.
In 2003 he released the album, Condry Ziqubu and Friends. He is also involved in studio session and production work.
Formed in Springs in 1980. James Phillips (guitar, vocals), Carl Raubenheimer (bass, vocals), Herbie Parkin (rhythm guitar), Mark Bennet (keyboard, vocals) and Chris Hattingh (drums). Hattingh was replaced on drums by Henry Jantzen.
Recorded two songs for the WEA Records Six of the Best (1979) compilation: “Victim’s Victim” and “Goddess of Depression”. Released the 7 inch EP “Fridays and Saturdays” in 1980, including four songs: “In The Night”, “Brain Damage”, “Johnny’s Conscience” and “Rock And Rolls Royce”.
The band broke up but James Phillips, Carl Raubenheimer and Steve Howells (drums) reformed the band in 1982 to record new versions of original Corporal Punishment songs in the Shifty Records studios. These recordings together with original Corporal Punishment recordings were released on cassette along with the James Phillips and Carl Raubenheimer project, Illegal Gathering, in 1986.
Real name Robin Graham began his music career as Crocodile Harris in the 1970s, releasing the single “Miss Eva Goodnight” (1973) and an album You’re A Woman, I’m A Man (1974) as well as follow-up singles before forming the Wright Brothers with Richard Wilson in 1977.
When the duo split up in 1979 he went solo again. In 1982 the single “Give me the good news” received lots of radio play on South African radio stations. In 1983 he released the album Give Me The Good News.
His last single release was “The world is an explosion” in 1984.
He died in 2015.
Western Cape actor and singer who performed in many musicals including David Kramer and Taliep Peterson’s District Six (1986). He played the role of the hawker, Uncle Henry, and sang the songs “Watermelon” and “Heart of District Six”. He died in 2009.
Darren Scott worked at Capital Radio from 1984 until 1992. He explains that “I‟ve always had my heart set on radio, even during high school I spent many afternoons hanging around Capital Radio Studios with Kevin Savage”. But when he matriculated from De La Salle College (Johannesburg) in 1981, instead of pursuing a career in radio, Darren studied medicine at the University of Pretoria.
While at TUKS he spent a lot of time at TUKS FM which was still only a campus radio station back then. His interest in medicine faded quickly and in his second year he decided to abandon his medical degree and pursue a BA Communications Degree at RAU. Not long into his first year at RAU Scott was offered a job at Capital Radio, which he accepted.
After Capital Radio he went on to work at 702 Music Radio, 702 Talk Radio, 5FM, East Coast Radio, Jacaranda 94.2, Hot 91.9FM, OFM, and Mix 93.8FM, on all of them either prime time Breakfast or Afternoon Drive Shows.
He has also worked on television, for a period of 25 years. He started as a continuity announcer and presenter of music show “Hot Hits” on Mnet, before becoming their first sports presenter on Supersport, where he anchored major sporting events between 1988 and 2011. He is best known as the face of rugby on Supersport, hosting major rugby matches and internationals, anchoring 3 Rugby World Cups, and hosting the legendary “Boots & All” with Naas Botha for 15 years.
Port Elizabeth-based folk guitarist.
He has released several albums including New Street (1991), Deep South (1991), Lucky Man (1993), Valley Road (2012), Oasis Drift (2013) and Cape to Cairo (2018).
Emerged as a satirical singer songwriter on the Western Cape folk scene in the mid-1970s.
His first album, Bakgat, was released in 1981. In the same year he released the immensely popular The Story of Blokkies Joubert which spawned the bestselling singles ‘Hak Hom Blokkies’ and ‘The Royal Hotel’.
A lot of his fan base was unaware of his satirical intent. He carried on in a similar vein with top selling albums and singles as well as a comic role in Volkswagen car television advertisements.
In 1986, with the country in political turmoil, Kramer re-assessed his satirical output and decided that it was time to release an album which provided a more serious and down-the-line critique of society. Baboondogs was not well received by his traditional fan base but gained him further respect in liberal circles.
After 1986 Kramer concentrated more on writing and producing musicals such as District Six (1986) and Kat and the Kings (1997). He was also involved in the Karoo Kitaar Blues project (2002), in which he searched for musical talent in the Karoo region in particular.