Miriam Makeba, one of South Africa's most iconic and best-loved singers, has died from a heart attack in Italy. She was 76.
Known as "Mama Africa", Miriam Makeba was the first black South African musician to gain international fame, winning renown in the US in the 1950s with her sweeping vocals.
She fell ill after a concert against organised crime in the southern Italian town of Baia Verde late yesterday, and died after being rushed to a clinic in the town of Castel Volturno.
Miriam Makeba spent 31 years in exile after openly speaking out against apartheid. One of her songs demanded the release of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
She made popular fashion statements that stressed her African pride through hairstyles and traditional garb.
Miriam Makeba was born in a shantytown near Johannesburg.
She first started to sing in her school choir and learned new songs by listening to recordings of American jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald.
She mixed jazz with traditional African sounds and punctuated some songs with the clicks of the Xhosa language.
She won attention on the international stage as lead singer for the South African band The Manhattan Brothers. In New York, she worked with Harry Belafonte.
Exiled after speaking out against apartheid, Makeba created classics such as "The Click Song" and "Pata Pata".
While she won over millions on the stage, her personal life was marred by tragedy. Her first husband often beat her, and she left him after finding him in bed with her sister.
Later, she married US black power activist Stokely Carmichael in 1968 and they moved to the West African country of Guinea, but later split.
She was divorced four times.
