Kabelo Mabalane (born 15 December 1976), known by his stage name as Kabelo or Bouga Luv, is a South African

kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a sound that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He is a member of the kwaito trio

TKZee TKZee is a South African kwaito music group formed in 1990s by three school friends, Tokollo Tshabalala, Kabelo Mabalane, and Zwai Bala. The group shot to prominence in late 1997 and early 1998 with their chart-topping singles "Palafala" and ...

. He has opened shows for world famous musicians such as

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known for blending gangsta rap with pop rap, pop and contempo ...

and

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

. He co-owned Faith Records, a South African independent music company. He had also been a judge on ''

SA's Got Talent ''SA's Got Talent ''(also known as ''South Africa's Got Talent'' or shorten to ''SAGT'') was a South African television show that aired on e.tv and part of the ''Got Talent'' series. It was presented by Mo Mahlangu, popularly known as Tol Ass M ...

'' for the past two seasons in 2014.

Music career

In 2000 Kabelo released his debut studio album ''Everybody Watching'', including the hit singles "Pantsula For Life" and "Amasheleni". The album went platinum within weeks of its release, selling 100 000 copies. He soon made a followed up release with his second studio album titled ''Rebel With A Cause'' including the hit singles "It's My House" and "Ayeye". The album proved to be another huge success, reaching double platinum status, selling 130 000 copies. Kabelo won a South African Music Award in 2003 for his second studio album, ''Rebel with a Cause'' and followed up with his third studio album And the beat goes on selling 150 000 copies triple platinum with the hit singles Zonke, Reverse Yomhlaba & Zibuzwala Kimi. He won the 2004

Kora Award The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President H ...

for Best Southern Africa Male Artist. In 2005, Kabelo signed a deal with

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

to produce a sneaker called Bouga Luv. He has run the

Comrades Marathon The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. The dire ...

on three occasions from 2006 to 2008. In 2008 he finished just under the 10-hour mark. He also featured on the August 2008 cover of ''Runner's World'' magazine. Along with his TKZEE bandmates (Tokollo Tshabalala and Zwai Bala), Kabelo performed at 2010 Fifa World Cup Opening Ceremony. Throughout high school, Kabelo was very active in sports. In 2005 he started to prepare for the Comrades Marathon, a 93 km race. Since 2006, to date, he has entered and completed five of the races. In 2008 the South African Sports Confederation Olympics Committee (SASCOC) chose him as an Olympic Ambassador. In April 2010 Kabelo was named as the presenter of a new multi-sport and lifestyle talk-show on South Africa's SABC2 channel that airs on Fridays at 21:30. At the 30th SAB Sports Journalist of the Year Awards, on 6 September 2010, Kabelo was rewarded with two awards, in Best Newcomer Overall and Best Newcomer Television Presenter.

Personal life

Kabelo attended prestigous boys' school, St. Stithian's College in

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort ...

, Johannesburg, along with future

bandmates,

Zwai Bala Zwai Bala (born 15 February 1975) is a South African kwaito and gospel musician.zwai Bala (born 15 February 1975) is a South Africa Education Bala studied at the Drakensberg Boys' Choir School, near Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal, and matriculat ...

and Tokollo Tshabalala He married South African actress, Gail Nkoane, in a private ceremony on 9 February 2013. The couple have two children together; a daughter, Zoe Leano Mabalane, was born on 28 March 2015 and a son named Khumo born on 31 Jan 2018. In a recent interview with MacG (Podcast and Chill with MacG), Kabelo spoke of his past, music and fellow Kwaito colleagues, his parents, GBV and God. Mabalane is widely considered one of the best selling kwaito artists of all time.

Discography

Solo albums

*2000: ''Everybody Watching'' *2002: ''Rebel With A Cause'' *2003: ''And the Beat Goes On'' *2004: ''Bouga Luv Album'' *2006: ''Exodus'' *2007: ''I'm A King'' *2011: ''Immortal - Vol. 1'' *2012: ''Immortal - Vol. 2'' *2015: ''Immortal - Vol 3''

Albums with TKZee

*1996: ''Take It Eazy'' *1997: ''Phalafala'' *1998: ''Shibobo'' *1998: ''Halloween'' *1999: ''Guz 2001 (TKZee family)'' *2001: ''Trinity'' *2005: ''Guz hits'' *2009: ''Coming Home'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabalane, Kabelo 1976 births Living people South African Tswana people Kwaito musicians Alumni of St Stithians College South African musicians