Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa
Encyclopedia
Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa was a popular-music concert that took place on April 16 1990 at Wembley Stadium, London, and was broadcast to more than 60 countries. It was held two months after the release of Nelson Mandela
from a South African apartheid prison and was regarded by Mandela as an official international reception. Mandela was on stage for 45 minutes, of which the first eight minutes was taken up by a standing ovation. He called for sanctions against South Africa to be maintained and for people across the world to continue pressing for apartheid’s abolition.
The success of an earlier concert, a 70th birthday-tribute
concert to Mandela in June 1988, held while the black South African leader was still in prison, and the growing likelihood that he would be released reasonably soon led Mandela’s lawyer to ask Tony Hollingsworth, impresario and producer of the first concert, to organise the 1990 concert.
Mandela, his party, the African National Congress
and the Anti-Apartheid Movement
were convinced that the first event had played an important part in increasing pressure on the South African regime to release Mandela – a move which would be the first step in releasing other political prisoners and ending the apartheid regime.
Mandela’s lawyer and Mike Terry
, head of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in London, met Hollingsworth in London in December 1989. Mandela, according to the lawyer, was insisting on two conditions: that he would talk for as long as he liked and that the speech would not be edited on television. It was also agreed that the widest possible international television coverage would be sought and that broadcast fees and gate money would be geared to the concert breaking even rather than making a profit.
At one stage Mandela backed out of the planned concert after senior ANC figures persuaded him that he should not be holding such an event in “Thatcher’s country” because British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher supported the apartheid regime. He was persuaded to go ahead by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston
, president of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
Musicians performing at the Wembley event included Anita Baker
, Bonnie Raitt
, Chrissie Hynde
, Jackson Browne
, Lou Reed
, Natalie Cole
, Neil Young
, Peter Gabriel
, Simple Minds
, Tracy Chapman
and Hip Hops own Stetsasonic
who happen to win over the Wembley Stadium crowd prior to Mandela's speech. (see fuller list below).
Rights in the event are held by Tribute Inspirations Limited
.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
from a South African apartheid prison and was regarded by Mandela as an official international reception. Mandela was on stage for 45 minutes, of which the first eight minutes was taken up by a standing ovation. He called for sanctions against South Africa to be maintained and for people across the world to continue pressing for apartheid’s abolition.
The success of an earlier concert, a 70th birthday-tribute
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on June 11, 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. It was also referred to as Freedomfest, Free Nelson Mandela Concert and Mandela Day...
concert to Mandela in June 1988, held while the black South African leader was still in prison, and the growing likelihood that he would be released reasonably soon led Mandela’s lawyer to ask Tony Hollingsworth, impresario and producer of the first concert, to organise the 1990 concert.
Mandela, his party, the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
and the Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement , originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's Blacks....
were convinced that the first event had played an important part in increasing pressure on the South African regime to release Mandela – a move which would be the first step in releasing other political prisoners and ending the apartheid regime.
Mandela’s lawyer and Mike Terry
Mike Terry
Mike Terry is a music producer, recording engineer, and mixer residing in Los Angeles, California. Terry grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Terry eventually moved west in the mid 90's and landed his first jobs at L.A.'s The Village, and Sound City recording studios as an assistant...
, head of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in London, met Hollingsworth in London in December 1989. Mandela, according to the lawyer, was insisting on two conditions: that he would talk for as long as he liked and that the speech would not be edited on television. It was also agreed that the widest possible international television coverage would be sought and that broadcast fees and gate money would be geared to the concert breaking even rather than making a profit.
At one stage Mandela backed out of the planned concert after senior ANC figures persuaded him that he should not be holding such an event in “Thatcher’s country” because British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher supported the apartheid regime. He was persuaded to go ahead by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston
Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
, president of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
Musicians performing at the Wembley event included Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Chrissie Hynde
Chrissie Hynde
Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
, Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
and Hip Hops own Stetsasonic
Stetsasonic
Stetsasonic was an American hip hop group formed in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. It is remembered as one of the first hip hop crews to use a live band, and the group's positive, uplifting lyrics made it forerunners of alternative hip hop and jazz hip...
who happen to win over the Wembley Stadium crowd prior to Mandela's speech. (see fuller list below).
Rights in the event are held by Tribute Inspirations Limited
Tribute Inspirations
Tribute Inspirations Limited is a UK-registered company which owns rights in nine of the world’s largest global broadcast events, all executive-produced by TonyHollingsworth:Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday TributeThe Wall Live in Berlin...
.
Artists appearing at the concert
- Anita BakerAnita BakerAnita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
- André A. JacksonAndré A. JacksonAndré Action Diakité Jackson , , more commonly known by his African clan name "M’Zée Fula-Ngenge" , is a diamond industrialist and head of JFPI Corporation, Africa's largest holding company....
- Ben EltonBen EltonBenjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
- Bonnie RaittBonnie RaittBonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
- Caiphus Semenya
- Chrissie HyndeChrissie HyndeChristine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...
- Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
- Denzel WashingtonDenzel WashingtonDenzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
- Dudu PukwanaDudu PukwanaMtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
- Geoffrey Oreyama
- George DukeGeorge DukeGeorge Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
- Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
- Jerry DammersJerry DammersJeremy David Hounsell "Jerry" Dammers is a British musician who is a founder and keyboard player of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A...
- Johnny Clegg
- Jonas GwangwaJonas GwangwaJonas Mosa Gwangwa has been an important figure in South African jazz for over 40 years. He first gained significance playing trombone with The Jazz Epistles...
- Jungle BrothersJungle BrothersThe Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
- Lenny HenryLenny HenryLenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
- Letta Mbulla
- Little Steven
- Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
- Manhattan BrothersManhattan BrothersThe Manhattan Brothers was a popular South African music group in the 1940s and 1950s, during the Apartheid Era. Their sound drew on American ragtime, jive, swing, doo-wop, and several other jazz strains, as well as African choral and Zulu harmonies...
- Mica ParisMica ParisMica Paris is an English soul singer, radio and television presenter, and occasional actress. Her forename is pronounced Misha.-Beginnings:Paris' roots are in soul and gospel music...
- Natalie ColeNatalie ColeNatalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
- Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
- Neneh CherryNeneh CherryNeneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
- Neville Brothers
- Patti LabellePatti LaBellePatricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
- Peter GabrielPeter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
- Shikisha
- Simple MindsSimple MindsSimple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
- StetsasonicStetsasonicStetsasonic was an American hip hop group formed in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. It is remembered as one of the first hip hop crews to use a live band, and the group's positive, uplifting lyrics made it forerunners of alternative hip hop and jazz hip...
- Steven Van ZandtSteven Van ZandtSteven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
(Little Steven) - Terence Trent D'Arby
- Tracy ChapmanTracy ChapmanTracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
- Youssou N’Dour