Lebo Mathosa was born on July 16, 1977, in Daveyton, a township on the East Rand of Johannesburg, South Africa, to Nomvula Magdeline and Madimetsha Gerriet Mathosa. Her family first moved to Pietersburg, and then to Johannesburg, where she attended St. Mary’s High School.
She began singing in church choir when she was seven, and after moving to Johannesburg, discovered the disco-infused bubblegum music that was popularized by artists like Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
When she was 14, she caught the attention of a key Johannesburg DJ with her singing and dancing, following which Fassie took the rising talent under her wing, touting her as the next Brenda Fassie.

 

 

Lebo Mathosa’s career started when she was invited to join the group ‘Boom Shaka’, which was put together by music producer Don Laka, who had heard her singing at a club in Johannesburg. The group, which pioneered in kwaito, a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples, became immensely popular within a short period.
The group released its first single, ‘It’s About Time’, in 1993, followed by its first album the next year, and became one of the most successful bands in South Africa in the mid-1990s. They purposefully focused their distinctive sound, visual style, and dance moves to appeal to youth audiences throughout the country and often drew from traditional African dance moves.
However, some claimed that the popularity of the group was in part due to teenaged Mathosa’s dance routine and revealing clothing, which shocked many who interpreted her daringness as female objectification. The group was further accused of degradation in the name of liberation when they performed a kwaito version of the South African national anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika at the 1997 FNB ‘South African Music Awards’.