Legendary songwriter and musician Tsepo Tshola has passed away on Thursday aged 67years. The news of his passing were confirmed by a family statement that revealed that he succumbed to a COVID-19 related illness.
He had been in the music industry for more than four decades ever since he joined teen boy band The Lesotho Blue Diamonds as a vocalist in 1970 and has dominated audiences across international stages.
Born in Lesotho, Tsepo Tshola grew up in a musical family with both his parents involved in choirs.
Despite being a permanent resident of South Africa, Tsepo was still very much attached to his home country. He was always commuting between South Africa and Lesotho.
In an interview with Drum in 2014 he disclosed that he had a house in Lesotho and that his two sons, Kamogelo and Katlego, who are both singers, lived in Lesotho.
After The Lesotho Blue Diamonds he joined The Anti-Antics and later Uhuru. The late Nana Coyote used to sing with them. Uhuru was then followed by Sankomota.
The musicians in all four of those bands were basically the same set of people going through different name changes and with a different set of challenges.
After joining Hugh Masekela for a world tour, he met Julian Bahula, a South African musician based in London, and he didn’t want to come back to South Africa.
He managed to convince the rest of the Sankomota band members to join him in the UK. Sankomota relocated to London from 1985 to 1989.
Back in SA in the 90’s Tsepo Tshola struck out as a solo recording artist. Using the moniker, The Village Pope, he went on to write a whole slew of classics including Madambadamba and Ho Lokile.
The news of his passing sent shockwaves through the country, and many took to social media to share their condolences and tributes to the legend who has had a profound impact on the lives of South Africans and Basotho, and those abroad, through his music.