South African superstar Johnny Clegg once did the unthinkable. In 1988, he outsold both Michael Jackson and Madonna combined in France.
“In 1998 we did an incredible feat. We outsold Michael Jackson and Madonna together,” he tells Undercover News. “I sold 1.3 million albums in 18 months of the first album which was unheard of”.In fact, Clegg was so big in France that the French Government knighted him. In 1991, he was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters).
Clegg has also received a doctorate in South Africa. “I am a doctor of music and can’t read a note. How does that come about?, he laughs”
The award was bona-fide though. “It is an award based on the fact that I have been part of creating a whole new musical genre in world music,” he says. “I was part of the early styles in mixing language and music and melody and rhythm and creating a new style of South African music”.
Johnny Clegg will tour Australia and New Zealand in May and June
Dates are:
Perth: Thursday 21st May 2009 The Riverside Theatre, Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre
Melbourne: Monday 25th May 2009 Palais Theatre
Sydney: Tuesday 26th May 2009 Sydney State Theatre
Brisbane: Thursday 28th May 2009 QPAC Concert Hall
Wellington: Saturday 30th May 2009 St. James, Opera Hall
Auckland: Monday 1st June 2009 Auckland Town Hall, The Edge
