Johnny Clegg performs on stage at Royal Albert Hall on March 27, 2013 in London., a South African musician who performed in defiance of racial barriers imposed under the country’s apartheid system decades ago and celebrated its new democracy under Nelson Mandela, died Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 66.
Political opposition leader Mmusi Maimane said Clegg “wrote our SA story when our country was at its worst and at its best.” Clegg recorded songs he was arrested for and “never gave in to the pressure of the apartheid rules,” his manager said. In December, Clegg told South African news channel eNCA the “toughest part of my journey will be the next two years” and called himself an “outlier” in an interview that mused about mortality.
Johnny was an African. We say passed away not died out of respect.
😓