Johnny Clegg - Biography
By J Poet
Johnny Clegg was born in England, but his mother moved to South Africa in the mid 60s. In 1976 Clegg and his friend and musical partner Sipho Mchunu, a member of the Zulu nation, made an album of Zulu ethnic songs called Juluka. It was a hit and the duo put together a group using that name that was the first racially integrated band in South Africa. One of their songs, “Scatterlings of Africa,” became a worldwide hit in 1982. When Mchunu quit the band, Clegg soldiered on with another integrated outfit, Savuka. Their debut, 1987’s Third World Child, benefited internationally thanks to the success of Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland, which also explored the Zulu rhythms of South Africa. After leaving Savuka, Clegg toyed with the idea of starting his own label and producing new bands, but with the record industry in chaos, he decided it would be easier to release his new music on his own website, johnnyclegg.com. His first Internet album was New World Survivor released in 2003. He return to live performing in 2000 with a self-named band, and in 2006 he released a new CD, One Life, recorded partially at Peter Gabriel’s One World studio in South Africa. As of early 2008 the album had not yet been issued internationally. Throughout his career, Clegg has been an outspoken champion of human rights, helping rally the world against apartheid and he continues to work for progressive causes to this day. His music and integrated bands changed the landscape of South African popular music, and brought the sounds of Zulu culture to people all over the world.
The African music he heard on radio as a boy inspired Clegg to pick up guitar and seek out the people who were making the music. “I started carrying a tape recorder and I’d tape the songs I heard the black street musicians playing,” Clegg recalled in a 2005 interview. “Some of the older Zulus took me under their wing and I managed to get quite a collection of songs down on tape.” When he was 15, he was arrested for being inside a black hostel and instead of taking him to the Charge Office, the police took him home to his mother. The hostel was filled with migrant workers without official work permits and in the eyes of the police it was a hotbed of stolen goods, drug running, gun running and bootleggers. “My mother was worried and we had quite a few arguments about it, but since she was a jazz singer she understood my love for the music. In the end she told me I could do what I wanted to do”
In 1976 Clegg and his friend and Sipho Mchunu, a member of the Zulu nation, made an album of Zulu ethnic songs called Juluka. “As I became more familiar with the Zulus I realized that I didn't want to just learn the culture, I wanted to do the culture, to become a culture bearer. There were so many things about it that I found emotive and beautiful that I wanted to be part of that continuing tradition, especially as it related to dance and music.” Since radio in South Africa was segregated at that time, the album created problems. Censors finally decided that since the backing band was African, black stations would play it. Clegg and Mchunu then created a band called Juluka, going on to become one of the most successful bands in South Africa, blending South African folk, rock’n’roll, funk and Zulu street guitar. For their first year and a half as a band, they played mostly in black areas, where whites didn’t see them. “As we got more popular, occasionally we’d be playing in a township and uniformed police would walk on stage with their shotguns,” Clegg said. They’d tell us ‘You've got five minutes to empty the hall, or else you'll all be arrested.’ This was mostly in areas that are notoriously conservative. Like the United States, we have our own regional political dynamics. There are rednecks, but there are also progressive people, mostly in the urban areas, who eventually changed the system.” Juluka’s albums went gold or platinum in South Africa and the burgeoning interest in world music helped their fortunes, with African Litany (1981) and Scatterlings of Africa (1982) becoming international hits. In 1985, Mchunu left the band and Clegg started another integrated and politically outspoken band, Savuka – Zulu for We Have Arisen. Paul Simon’s Graceland had introduced Zulu music to a worldwide mainstream audience and Savuka’s debut album, Third World Child (1987) made Clegg and Savuka stars in Europe, but not without attending problems. Since the songs Clegg did with Savuka were more outspoken, the band had trouble with the South African authorities, but due to the success of Juluka there was a large audience waiting to embrace the new group. Even in South Africa the bottom line is the bottom line, and much can be forgiven when there's money to be made. After a tumultuous tour of South Africa and Western Europe Clegg inked a worldwide deal with EMI International (Capital in the U.S.). Savuka albums include Shadow man (1988), Cruel Crazy Beautiful World (1990) and Heat, Dust and Dreams (1993).
Right after apartheid fell, Clegg and Mchunu reunited and in 1997 cut another Juluka album called Ya Vuka Inkunzi - The Bull Has Arisen. It was a celebration of our freedom and less political than past albums. The international title was Crocodile Love. After touring to support the new album, Mchunu retired again, going back to his life as a farmer and cattle rancher. He puts the money he’s made from performing and recording back into his local community. After the tour to support Ya Vuka Inkunzi, Clegg joined a group of independent label owners trying to get better leverage in sales and promotions, but it didn’t work out. He also tried producing other bands and developing a new label, but it was an impossible task. Even in South Africa, where most people can’t afford computers, the music industry is in free fall. There is also a 40% unemployment rate, which makes it hard for many bands to survive. In 2000, Clegg started touring again as Johnny Clegg and has been on the road ever since.
Clegg’s first solo album, New World Survivor was released in 2003 on his own website johnnyclegg.com. He sold 1,000 autographed copies through his site; it was eventually released in South Africa on CD, but since it was more of a rock album and less of a world music effort, it has not been released internationally. He return to live performing in 2000 with a self-named band, and in 2006, released a second solo CD, One Life, recorded partially at Peter Gabriel’s One World studio in South Africa. He’s also written an autobiographical show about his experiences with Zulu culture that’s been produced in South Africa. In 2010 he released Human.
