Rebecca Malope biography: age, children, real name, wedding, songs and albums
Rebecca Malope is one of the most established gospel artists in South Africa. She has been consistent in her career. Her growth is significant through the number of awards that she has won. She has also had great opportunities to perform in great events. Here is all you need to know about her.
Source: UGC
Rebecca Malope is a lady after God’s heart. Her commitment to serving God through her music is unquestionable. She has been releasing hits continually and has earned the title of the queen of gospel music in the country. Even though she has had a lot of tough experiences, from being told that she would be confined in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, to being told that she would never get pregnant. She, however, overcame all these declarations and is where she is because of the grace of God.
Rebecca Malope biography
Rebecca Malope had a tough childhood, especially because she was brought up in a less privileged family. She has been through the test of times. However, God has seen her through every step of her life. Her passion for music is evidence that God has been there for her. She has risen to be the queen of Gospel music.
READ ALSO: 10 best Rebecca Malope songs ranked
Rebecca Malope real name
Most people refer to her as the queen of African gospel music and do not know Rebecca Malope real name. Batsogile Lovederia Malope is her official name.
What is Rebecca Malope’s age?
Rebecca Malope was born on June 30th, 1968 in Lekazi Mpumalanga, South Africa. As of date, her age is fifty years. She, however, does not look like it, especially if you took a close look at her. As a young girl, she had a difficult time pursuing her education, mainly because she was confined to a wheelchair due to an illness that she had suffered from. Doctors had even declared that she could never walk again. Because her family was poor, they could not seek a second opinion for her condition.
Rebecca Malope family
As a young girl, Rebecca grew up under the care of her parents and her sister Cynthia. Her family was poor; therefore, at the age of eighteen, she had to accompany her sister to look for jobs in Johannesburg township of Evaton. The two would travel for close to four hundred kilometres, from Mpumalanga to Evaton, to earn a few coins and fend for her old folks.
Rebecca Malope wedding
The queen of flow and rhymes is happily married to the love of her life; Themba Tshabalala. Themba Tshabalala works as a manager in a firm that deals with imports and exports. The two have been happily married for quite some time, even though they do not have any kids of their own. In 2004, Rebecca was pregnant but lost her baby to a miscarriage. She got pregnant after doctors declared that she would never get pregnant.
Rebbecca, however, takes care of her late sister’s kids. Her sister passed on a few years back. Most people insinuate that from the pictures that she posts; one of the kids is Rebecca Malope daughter.
Rebecca Malope musical career
Rebecca decided to pursue her musical career in 1986. She began by contesting in the ‘Shell Road to Fame’, which was a talent search for musicians. Unfortunately, she did not win. She did not give up though. The following year, she tried her luck, and to her surprise, she won as the best vocalist. She used this opportunity to mark the beginning of her musical career. She signed up with Sizwe Zakoas her producer, and Peter Tiadi as her manager. Together, they started working on her debut pop album, Sthembile Kuwe.
Being a newbie in an industry that was already flooded, her album did not sell so well. Rebecca was convinced that pop music was not the ideal genre for her. She switched to gospel music. To her uttermost surprise, her songs did so well, and within a short time, she released her first album, which she called Rebecca. The songs in the album would even get media coverage in most radio stations.
In 1989, she worked on her second and third albums. The titles of the albums were; Thank you very much and Woza lovely respectively. The two albums had a platinum status that year. In 1990, she released another hit; Buyani, which she dedicated to Nelson Mandela during the occasion of his release from Robben Island Prison.
In 1990, she won the OKTV award in the best South African female artist category. In 1993, she surprised the country when she received more than one million votes and won the best local established artist during the Coca Cola Full Blast Music Award Music Show in 1993 and 1994. Since then, she has had good breaks in her career, with her first ten gospel albums going gold, while the last six albums went platinum.
Rebecca Malope awards
For the time that she has been in the industry, Rebecca has managed to bag the following awards;
- 1987: Shell Road to Fame Best Female Vocalist
- 1990: OKTV Awards Best Female Artist
- 1993: Cocoa Cola Full blust music show: Best Established Local Artist
- 1994: Cocoa Cola Full blust music show: Best Established Local Artist
- 1995: South African Music Awards Best Contemporary Gospel Album
- 1997: South African Music Awards Best Female Artist
- 1997: South African Music Awards Best Selling Album
Source: UGC
- 1998: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel Album
- 1998: South African Music Awards Best Selling African Release Album
- 1998: South African Music Awards Best Selling Album by South African
- 1999: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel.
- 2000: Metro FM Music Awards Best Gospel Album
- 2001: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel Album
- 2002: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel Album
- 2002: Metro FM Music Awards Best Gospel Album
- 2003: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel Album
- 2003: Kora Awards Best Female African Gospel Artist
- 2004: South African Music Awards Best African Gospel Album
- 2005: Metro FM Music Awards Best Gospel Album
- 2006: South African Music Awards Best African/Traditional Gospel Album
- 2007: South African Music Awards Best African Contemporary Gospel Album
- 2008: SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards Best Artist
- 2009: South African Music Awards Best African Traditional Gospel Album
- 2014: South African Music Awards Best Traditional Faith Music Album
- 2015: SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards Classic of All Time
Rebecca Malope albums
Rebecca has been in the industry long enough to produce so many records. During her career as an artist, these are some of the albums that she has created;
- 1995 - Shwele Baba
- 1996 - Uzube Nam’
- 1996 - Live at the State Theatre
- 1997 - Angingedwa
- 1997 - Free at Last: South African Gospel
- 1998 - Somlandela
- 1999 - Ukholo Lwam’
- 2000 - Siyabonga
- 2000 - Christmas With Rebecca and Friends
- 2001 - Sabel Uyabizwa
- 2002 - Ngiyekeleni
- 2002 - Iyahamba Lenqola
- 2003 - Hlala Nami
Rebecca Malope songs
Rebecca Malope has been in the industry long enough to produce top hits. She sings in South African, and most of her songs are in Zulu. Some of the songs that have been a big break for her are:
1. Rebecca Malope - Uyingcwele
Her strong voice and passion while singing this song depict her relationship with God. This song is more than ten years old but never gets old. It has accumulated more than eight hundred thousand views on YouTube.
2. Uthando lwami - Rebbeca Malope
This is another old worship but touching worship song. The song has more than one million views on YouTube.
3. Rebecca Malope - S'thembele kuwe
This is another moving worship song. She sang it in South African, and the song has had more than six hundred thousand views on YouTube.
4. Rebecca Malope - Nginobaba Wami
Nginobaba Wami is another powerful worship song that the queen of rhymes has done. Her voice brings out the mood in this song so perfectly.
5. Rebecca Malope - Thank You Lord, Baya Vuya
Thank You Lord is an English praise song. The song has been another break for Rebecca because it has accumulated close to two million views on YouTube.
Apart from her musical career, Ribs, as most people refer to her, she holds a gospel talk show on SABC2. The name of her show is Gospel Time.
Rebecca Malope has had a twisted life but has proven that being faithful to God causes situations to turn. She did not have the best childhood life but still trusted in God who re-wrote her story. She has been through a test of time, but God has never let her down.
READ ALSO:
- From abused little girl to queen of Gospel: Rebecca Malope opens up about her childhood
- 20 best Gospel artists and singers ever
- 6 Highlights from the 2018 DStv Mzansi Viewer’s Choice Awards
Source: Briefly News
