Makeba, Miriam

Makeba, Miriam (mukā'bu) [key], 1932–, African singer. She became the first black South African to achieve international fame and she played a fundamental role in introducing African music to the West. Exiled from South Africa in the early 1960s because of her outspoken political views, she settled in the United States, where she was celebrated both as a performer and as a symbol of opposition to apartheid. Her first husband was Hugh Masekela. Following her marriage to the black militant leader Stokely Carmichael, she was declared unwelcome by the U.S. government and moved to Guinea (1969–84). She returned to her homeland after Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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