Msizi Innocent Shabalala (born 1964) is a member of

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

, a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n choral group founded in 1960 by his father

Joseph Shabalala Bhekizizwe Joseph Shabalala (28 August 1940 – 11 February 2020) was a South African singer and musician who was the founder and musical director of the choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Early life and career Bhekizizwe Joseph Shaba ...

."Msizi Shabalala"
bol.com.

Background

Msizi was born in Ladysmith (eMnambithi district),

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, to Joseph and his late wife Nellie Shabalala. In 1976, Joseph brought together his six sons to form Mshengu White Mambazo, Ladysmith's "junior choir", in which Msizi was a

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

voice. After the murder of his uncle

Headman Shabalala Headman Msongelwa Shabalala (10 October 1945 – 10 December 1991) was a member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a South African choral group founded by his brother Joseph Shabalala, Joseph. Headman was born in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, Ladysmith ...

in December 1991 and the retirement of several other members ( Inos Phungula, Geophrey Mdletshe and Ben Shabalala), Joseph later recruited Msizi and his brothers Sibongiseni, Thamsanqa and Thulani. Msizi is a tenor voice alongside Albert Mazibuko, and joined the group in 1993. However, he did not tour internationally with the group until 1998; between the years, Inos Phungula – a former member of the group – filled Msizi's place.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabalala, Msizi Ladysmith Black Mambazo members 21st-century South African male singers 1964 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) People from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal 20th-century South African male singers