Bulelwa Mkutukana’s Biography

Bulelwa Mkutukana’s Biography

Bulelwa Mkutukana Is an amazing and talented south africa born artist. She was born on the 9th of November, 1987. She is also known as Zahara on stage. She is also a singer, songwriter and a guitarist. She performed in both English and Xhosa, her native tongue, and her style of music was widely categorized as “Afro-soul”.

Following her contract with TS Records, Mkutukana’s first album, Loliwe  in the year 2011, achieved platinum-selling status. Three songs from her second album, Phendula  in the year 2013, reached the top of the charts which were “Phendula,” “Impilo,” and “Stay.” Country Girl in the year 2015 which is Zahara’s third album also received a triple platinum certification. She secured a record contract with Warner Music after leaving TS Records. Her fifth album, Nqaba Yam  in the year 2021, which landed at number one on iTunes, while her fourth album, Mgodi in the year 2017, was her best-selling and platinum-certified record.

Three Metro FM Awards which includes one Nigeria Entertainment Award, and seventeen South African Music Awards were among her honors. Zahara was listed among the BBC’s 100 Women in 2020. In 2021, she made an appearance on the seventeenth season of Idols South Africa a which she attended as a guest judge.

She began to sing at the age of six. She joined the school chorus which lead to the position of lead vocalist. Her powerful voice led to her being requested to join the senior choir at the age of nine.  In Arabic, her stage name translates to “blooming flower”.   She was nicknamed “Spinach” as a youngster because of her fondness for veggies. Being the sixth one of seven children of her parents, Zahara was reared in the Phumlani Informal Settlement in East London in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she was born Bulelwa Mkutukana.

“Afro-soul” is a rough classification of Zahara’s music which she sang both in English and her native dialect “Xhosa”. Her musical style is frequently characterized as a fusion of elements made popular by India Arie and Tracy Chapman. Busking on the streets of East London was Zahara’s first job. TK Nciza signed her to the company TS Records.

The initial edition of Zahx8aara’s 2011 first album, Loliwe was sold out in less than 72 hours. The album achieved double platinum certification in South Africa after selling over 100,000 copies in just 19 days. She became the second musician, after Xhosa native Brenda Fassie, to achieve this number in such a short period of time.

Following the criteria set by the Recording Industry of South Africa, it is noted that Zahara’s debut live DVD, The Beginning Live, which included X-Factor USA participant LeRoy Bell, went platinum in a single day in 2012. “Album of the Year” and “Best Female Artist” were among the eight accolades Zahara received at the annual South African Music Awards on May 1, 2012.

The South African Music Awards for Best Selling Album, Best R&B, Soul and Reggae Album, and Best Female Artist of the Year were all won by Zahara’s second studio album which was titled Phendula, which was released in the year 2013. She was asked to give a secret bedside concert at Nelson Mandela’s house that same year. After that, she wrote an EP titled “Nelson Mandela” in his honor.

Zahara’s younger brother was killed in East London in July 2014. Following his passing, Zahara claims she experienced a depressive episode but bounced back in time for the 2015 publication of Country Girl. She took home the “Best Female” and “Best Artist 3” honors at the 2015 Eastern Cape Music Awards.

Zahara joined Warner Music South Africa in the beginning of 2017. Her fourth studio album which is Mgodi, was released on October 13, 2017, and within six hours it became gold. Zahara started her Africa All Star Music Festival and visited three locations in the US to promote the CD even more.

At the age of 36, Zahara passed away in a Johannesburg hospital on December 11, 2023. Due to liver issues that grew worse until she lost consciousness, she was admitted in the middle of November. In 2019, her manager said that she had struggled with drinking and then had liver illness.