Don Clarke (songwriter)

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Don Clarke (songwriter)
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Born (1955-02-14) February 14, 1955 (age 69)
Johannesburg, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Occupation
  • Singer
  • Songwriter
  • Artist
  • Writer
Known forSanbonani
Spouse(s)Wendy Stacey
Websitedonclarke.co.za

Don Clarke (born February 14, 1955 in Johannesburg) is a South African singer-songwriter. Sanbonani, one of his early songwriting credits, was a national hit record in 1986. The Long Walk is Over received international exposure when it won the Grand Prize in the Great American Song Contest in 2013.[1] The song is a tribute to Nelson Mandela, co-written by Kalla Bremer and performed by Don Clarke, Calvin Sthembiso & the Guns & Moses Choir. A copy of the CD is kept at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Repository[2].

Don Clarke married Wendy Stacey in August, 2010. [3] The couple live in Howick, in the KZN Midlands of South Africa. Wendy is a founding member of the Drakondale Girls' Choir School.[4] The choir feature in Don Clarke's recent music, notably on Till You're Free Again[5], a song which was used in the Leon Schuster film, Frank and Fearless[6]. The film. like the song, highlights the problem of rhino being poached for the illegal horn trade. Don Clarke has recently finished writing his first book, Once Upon a Crutchmullet. Lockdown has delayed the distribution.

Songwriting

In 1986, Don Clarke's song "Sanbonani", performed by PJ Powers, won SABC's National Song Festival.[7][8] He continues to write songs about life in South Africa. In 2015, a group of musicians from Durban united to record Dig a Little Deeper[9], a song about tackling xenophobia. His latest release, A Sad, Sad Song[10] is about the recent lockdown due to Covid-19.

Adult Art - The Band Years

Don Clarke formed the band Adult Art in 1990. It was mainly a studio band, founded to record and promote the songs he had written. Adult Art was Don Clarke, Ronnie McNamara, Shaun Herbert, Wayne Rathbone and Dave Atkinson. Several of the band's songs appeared on the soundtrack for the 1991 movie Sweet 'n Short.[11] The band released three albums in the 1990s.[5] Adult Art disbanded in 2010 and reformed as an updated band under their new name, Crutch Mullets.

Selected songwriting credits and awards

Year Song Notes
1986 Sanbonani The National Song Festival winner
2008 Hey-Na Splashy Fen Song Winner[12]
2010 Kick it Up! SABC FIFA World Cup 2010 Bafana song competition[13]
2013 Long Walk is Over[14] Great American Song Contest Grand Prize winner (with Kalla Bremer)
2016 Blame it on the Whites Song went viral[15]
2018 'Till You're Free Again[16][5] Great American Song Contest 1st Place, Category Special - Anti Poaching
2020 Zuma Must Fall[17] Written with Special Care/Thembiso Sithole- Viral election song[18]

In the media

              

References

  1. Suter, Billy (March 31, 2014). "Madiba song by SA duo wins US contest". The Mercury. Retrieved 2020-07-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Item 0380 - CD 'The Long Walk is Over' , written by Don Clarke & Kalla Bremer and performed by Don Clarke, Calvin Sthembiso & the Guns & Moses Choir". nelsonmandela.org. ZA COM MR-T-7-4-0380. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Wedding Bells For Don". The Mercury. September 1, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Drakondale About Us". Drakondale. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sinkins, Estelle (April 2, 2019). "Don Clarke Wins Big". The Witness. Retrieved June 30, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Frank and Fearless Plot". IMDB. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. Max, Mojapelo (2008). Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music. Somerset West, South Africa: African Minds. pp. Pages=78, 79. ISBN 978-1-920299-28-6.
  8. Thamm, Marianne (20 Aug 2014). PJ Powers – Here I Am. South Africa: Penguin Random House. pp. Ch=13. ISBN 9780143531524.
  9. "Durban musicians unite against Xenophobia – Dig a Little Deeper". Durban International Convention Centre. April 28, 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "A Sad, Sad Song by Don Clarke". Music in Africa. May 30, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. "Sweet 'n Short 1991 Soundtracks". www.imdb.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. The Witness, The Witness (March 5, 2008). "Splashy Fen 2008". News24. Retrieved 29 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. Ngqulunga, Thobani (May 14, 2010). "Bafana song: Underberg muso wins nationwide competition". News24. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Winners". greatamericansong.com. 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. Claymore, Ezra (August 12, 2016). "Watch: "Blame it on the Whites" song goes viral, sends powerful message". The South African. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. "Winners-2018". www.greatamericansong.com. 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2020. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. Suter, Billy; Sphelele Ngubane (January 29, 2016). "Now there's a Zuma Must Fall song". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 2020-07-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. "VIDEO: Zuma Must Fall song grows". The Citizen. January 1, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

This article "Don Clarke (songwriter)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.