Thamsanqa Shabalala

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Thamsanqa Shabalala (born September 29 1974) is a member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo,^[1][2] a South African choral group founded in 1960 by his father Joseph. He replaced Joseph as the group's lead singer after his father's retirement in 2014 (see main article for more information).

Thamsanqa was born in Ladysmith (eMnambithi district) to Joseph and his late wife Nellie. In 1976, Joseph brought together his six sons to form Mshengu White Mambazo, Ladysmith's 'junior choir'.

After the murder of his uncle Headman Shabalala in December 1991 and the retirement of several other members (, and Ben Shabalala), Joseph later recruited Thamsanqa and his brothers Sibongiseni, Thulani and Msizi. Thamsanqa began singing with the group as an alto voice (alongside Albert Mazibuko, who is a tenor voice) and has remained in the line-up since 1993.^{[citation needed]}

Together with his brother Sibongiseni and a well-known South African guitarist, , Thamsanqa formed the maskandi-mbaqanga-isicathamiya crossover band in 1998, which has released successful releases to date including (2003), (2005), and (2007).^{[citation needed]}

It was announced by Joseph Shabalala in January 2008 that when he retires, Thamsanqa will take over as leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Joseph Shabalala retired in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

References[]