Featured S.A band of the week-Mango Groove

While in her last year at school, Claire Johnston joined Mango Groove (founded in 1984 by John Leyden, who teamed up with Andy Craggs and ‘Big Voice Jack’ Lerole’). She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of the Witwatersrand while touring with the band and quickly established herself as the face and voice of Mango Groove.

For the next two decades, they had an enormous impact on the South African music scene. At the time, popular multiracial music groups were not common in South Africa and Mango Groove was seen as a symbol of unity in a country struggling to shake itself free of apartheid.

The group had over 12 number 1 hits in South Africa and were the first and only group to remain at the top of the South African national sales charts for over a year. They received almost every South African music and video award, as well as a number of global awards.

They also performed to sell-out shows in many cities across the world, including London, Paris, Hong Kong and Sydney. Their unique blend of marabi, kwela and pop music, together with the voice and presence of Claire Johnston and the penny whistle of Mduduzi Magwaza, made them very popular.

Some of the highlights of Mango Groove’s career include:

The direct satellite link-up to the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London in 1992 to an estimated audience of a billion people.
Their performance in front of 200,000 people at a "Rock Against Racism" concert in Paris
Their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival where they received 3 encores.
Being the only African band to be invited to perform at the "Celebrate Hong Kong ‘97" Reunification Concert where they performed alongside Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock and All-4-One.