Margaret Singana

Margaret Singana (Margaret Mcingana, 1938 in Queenstown, Eastern Cape – 2000) was a South African musician. In the 1950s, she moved from Queenstown, Cape Province to Johannesburg in the then Transvaal, where she found work as a domestic servant.

It was while cleaning other people's houses that Margaret Singana was 'discovered'. She used to sing while cleaning. Her employers were so impressed that they recorded her singing and sent the tape to a record company. The producers of the musical Sponono, written by Alan Paton, gave her a part as a chorus singer in 1964.

In the 1970s Singana started performing with The Symbols. In 1972 she made "Good Feelings" with the band, the single reached No.2 on the old LM Hit Parade. In 1973, Singana was cast as the lead singer in the musical, Ipi Tombi, and soon made herself famous with the song "Mama Tembu's Wedding". In 1977, Singana's song "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You" became a hit. She had a stroke in 1980 and suffered from bad health for many years but, in 1986, she made a comeback with the song "We Are Growing", which was the theme song from the television series, Shaka Zulu.

Singana received many awards, including the 1976/1977 critics award from the British magazine, Music Week. She was known as "Lady Africa" in Southern Africa.