South African Musician Johnny Clegg Dies After Cancer Battle

Reuters
By Reuters
July 16, 2019Entertainment
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South African Musician Johnny Clegg Dies After Cancer Battle
South African singer Johnny Clegg performs during the South Africa Gala night at the Monte Carlo opera on Sept. 29, 2012. (Sebastien Nogier/Pool/Reuters)

South African singer and songwriter Johnny Clegg died on Tuesday after being diagnosed with cancer in 2015, local news outlets reported. He was 66.

Clegg, a Grammy nominee and Billboard music award winner known for his fluent Zulu which he mixed into his traditional folk music known as mbaqanga, was also a vocal critic of the apartheid government that ruled South Africa until 1994.

South African singer Jonny Clegg peforms during the 20th edition of the World Sacred Music Festival
South African singer Jonny Clegg peforms during the 20th edition of the World Sacred Music Festival in Fez, Morocco, on June 16 ,2014. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2012 Clegg received the presidential Order of Ikhamanga as well as a number of honorary doctorates and awards.

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