Johnny Clegg helped start the first multi-racial band in Apartheid South Africa and went on to sell millions of records and win international accolades. Now he is releasing his first US record in 17 years, Human, October 26 on Appleseed Recordings.Human builds on Clegg's critically acclaimed, massive-selling success in combining Western pop and Zulu rhythms, English lyrics alongside South African musical structures. The 11 original tracks and one traditional tune epitomize the spirit and intensity that have characterized Clegg's career for more than three decades. (Clegg was arrested and detained numerous times during Apartheid for violations of segregation laws.)
While he has sold millions of records worldwide, won extensive awards and accolades and performed at all of Nelson Mandela's 46664 AIDS Awareness Concerts), Clegg makes his largest impact with the simple yet incisive lyrics he crafts for his records. The issues he discusses on Human are encapsulated in the album's titleClegg captures human emotions and concerns that affect everyone. From the simple rewards of friendship and love to the complex problems in the Middle East and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human speaks to myriad perspectives while remaining quintessentially Clegg.
Johnny Clegg is a singer, songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and musical activist whose music has exploded onto the international scene and broken through barriers in his home of South Africa. Clegg and Sipho Mchunu formed mixed-race Juluka in the late `70s and went on to record two platinum and five gold albums. In 1986 he formed Savuka and by the end of 1989 the band's debut album had sold over 1 million records, their second reaching 700,000 units. Savuka received a Grammy nomination for the Best World Music Album in 1993 but disbanded shortly thereafter. Three years later Clegg and Mchunu temporarily re-formed Juluka and recorded Ya Vuka Inkunzi (also released as Crocodile Love). Since then, Clegg has recorded several solo projects including his last album One Life (2007), New World Survivor in 2002 and A South African Story (2003). The Johnny Clegg Band continues to tour worldwide and will return to North America for a 32-city tour in March 2011, which will be a celebration of his 30-year anniversary as a performer.
Clegg joins Appleseed's roster of artists active in many social justice causes, including Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tommy Sands and Sweet Honey in the Rock.
