Johnny Clegg, a South African musician who performed in defiance of racial barriers imposed under the country's apartheid system decades ago and celebrated its new democracy under Nelson Mandela, died Tuesday. "He fought it to the last second," Quin told the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir said it was "devastated" by Clegg's death and called him a "music icon and a true South African." Clegg learned about Zulu music and dancing as a teenager when he hung out with a Zulu cleaner and street musician called Charlie Mzila. In December, Clegg told South African news channel eNCA the "toughest part of my journey will be the next two years" and called himself an "outlier" in an interview that mused about mortality.

Source: ABC News July 16, 2019 18:15 UTC