Leonel Levy Lopes Bastos, better known as Lionel Bastos, was born on 16 August 1956 in Maputo, Mozambique) and is a singer, songwriter, and music producer who works mainly in South Africa.
In the 1990s he was part of a band called Be Like Water, who had a radio hit called Don't Go On in 1996. The band split up but did play reunion gigs in 2013. [1]
He has released five solo albums all of which were nominated for South African Music Awards ("SAMAs"). His second album, Simple, won Best Adult Contemporary Album in 1999. [2]
Bastos' third album, Rising Above The Madness, was released in 2001. [3] Both the album and one of its songs, "Thank You," reached the Number 1 spot on the charts in June 2001, [4] the song for two consecutive weeks. [5]
In May 2010, Bastos and radio host Doug Anderson organized a concert at which a number of notable South African artists (incl. Farryl Purkiss, Merseystate, and Wendy Oldfield) performed to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, at the Baxter Concert Hall in Cape Town. [6]
In November 2015, he released his sixth album, Songs From My Phone. The whole album is mastered directly from voice notes recorded on the iPhone's standard voice recorder, in what is believed to be a world first.
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.
Fugees are an American hip hop trio formed in 1990 in South Orange, New Jersey. Deriving its name from a shortening of the word "refugees", the group consists of Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel, and Lauryn Hill. The group rose to prominence in the mid-1990s for their pioneering blend of reggae, R&B, funk and hip hop, which eschewed gangsta rap and made them one of the most significant alternative hip hop acts. They occasionally rapped in Haitian Creole, and were one of the first hip hop bands to incorporate live instrumentation during their performances, along with The Roots.
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean is a Haitian rapper and musician. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a founding member, co-producer and guitarist of the New Jersey hip hop trio The Fugees, alongside Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel. The group released the albums Blunted on Reality (1994) and The Score (1996), the latter becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. Jean would follow this with the release of his first solo studio album, Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival (1997), which contains the top ten hit "Gone till November".
America: A Tribute to Heroes was a benefit concert created by the heads of the four major American broadcast networks; Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS. Joel Gallen was selected by them to produce and run the show. Actor George Clooney organized celebrities to perform and to staff the telephone bank.
"We Are the World" is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World. With sales in excess of 20 million copies, it is the eighth-best-selling physical single of all time.
The South African Music Awards are the Recording Industry of South Africa's music industry awards, established in 1995. The ceremony is held annually, usually in late April or May, with the judging process starting in November of the previous year. The nominations are typically announced at the end of March. The winners receive a gold-plated statuette called a SAMA.
"I'll Stand by You" is a song recorded by English-American rock band the Pretenders from their sixth studio album, Last of the Independents (1994). The song was written by Chrissie Hynde and the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, and produced by Ian Stanley. The song is a ballad in which the singer pledges love and faithful assistance to a loved one in times of personal darkness.
The Parlotones are a renowned South African indie rock band hailing from Johannesburg, formed in 1998. The ensemble features Kahn Morbee on vocals and rhythm guitar, Paul Hodgson as lead guitarist, Glen Hodgson handling bass guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, and Neil Pauw on drums and percussion. Originally rooted in Britpop, The Parlotones' music has evolved to encompass a diverse range of genres, with lyrics centered on relatable themes such as love and everyday life, complemented by engaging and memorable melodies.
"My City of Ruins" is a popular 2000s song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen and included on his 2002 album The Rising. It was released as a single in New Zealand in 2011, charting at #17.
Kristopher Neil Allen is an American singer, songwriter, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol.
Ashton Nyte is a South African-born singer, songwriter, producer, composer, author, actor, and frontman of the gothic rock band The Awakening. Nyte has released seven solo albums, in addition to eleven albums as The Awakening and several other projects and collaborations. He is considered to be a pioneer of alternative music in South Africa, and has been described as "something of a musical genius" for his typical method of composing, playing and recording each instrument himself on most of his releases. Nyte is widely known in South Africa for his chart-topping cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and several other top singles. His signature style combines baritone vocals, garnering comparisons to David Bowie and Johnny Cash, with instrumentation that ranges from lyric-driven acoustic folk, to alternative rock, to post-punk and electronic music, as well as a penchant for the theatrical. Nyte has been based in the US since 2009.
Jim Neversink is a South African musician, singer and songwriter. His musical style spans indie rock, country, americana and punk.
Tebogo Steve Kekana was a South African singer and songwriter. He began his musical career in the 1980s. He attended and completed his studies at UNISA.
"We Are the World 25 for Haiti" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup Artists for Haiti in 2010. It is a remake of the song "We Are the World", which was written by American musicians Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and was recorded by USA for Africa in 1985 to benefit famine relief in Africa. Initially, in late 2009, it had been suggested to Richie and Quincy Jones—producer of the original "We Are the World"—that a re-cut version of the song be re-released under the title "Live 25". Following the magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in Haiti in early 2010, which devastated most of the country and killed thousands of people, it was agreed that the song would be re-recorded by new artists, in the hope that it would reach a new generation and help benefit the people of Haiti.
Wouter Kellerman is a 2X GRAMMY® winning South African flautist, producer and composer who has won nine South African Music Awards. Using his classical training as a foundation, Kellerman has focused his attention on World and Roots music, exploring the versatility of the instrument and fusing classical and contemporary sounds.
Revolution is a house band formed in Johannesburg, South Africa consisting of twin brothers George and Joseph Mothiba. They emerged into the spotlight with the release of their third album The Journey in 2002, supported by the hit single Vhavenda, it was recognised as the Best Selling Release at the 2003 South African Music Awards. Since then, they have released a further twelve albums at a rate of close to one per year, achieving some degree of commercial and critical success.
Mthokozisi Khathi, professionally known by his stage name DJ Tira, is a South African DJ, record producer and Kwaito artist. He helped popularize the Gqom music genre.
Amanda "Ami" Faku is a South African singer, performer and songwriter. Born and raised in the township of eZinyoka, Gqeberha. Faku rose to fame as a contestant on The Voice SA season 2 in 2017, prior getting recognition in the music industry.
Mukengerwa Tresor Riziki, best known by his stage name TRESOR, is a Congolese-born singer, songwriter, music producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He gained prominence in 2015 after releasing his single "Mount Everest" from his debut album, VII. His name "Tresor", when translated from French, means "treasure".
The Beautiful Madness is the second studio album by Congolese-born singer TRESOR. It was released on 26 May 2017 through his label VII Recordings. The album features South African artists Da Capo, The Kiffness, Shotgun Fakes, Hugh Masekela and the Mahotella Queens. The 16-track album won Best Pop Album and was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Male Artist at the 24th South African Music Awards four months after its release.