DISCO THERAPY

A master of reinvention, singer Tamara Dey has worn many different hats during her career as one of South Africa's most iconic performers. She spoke to editor Ingrid Corbett about a recent health scare, her current passion project and the promises she means to keep.

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Tamara Dey is a rockstar, there’s no doubt about it. Not in a flip-your-hair-back and-forth, strut-around-on stage kind of way. I’m talking more about the seemingly effortless manner in which she is able to shift into character. One minute she’s joking about her hair, puffing it up a little with her hands, the next she’s striking a pose, then another one, and another one, and another one. The camera loves her, much like her fans.

It was always clear to Tamara that she wanted to pursue music as a career. As a teenager, she would sneak out of the house and go to raves and dance parties. ‘I heard these beautiful vocals over the DJ tracks and I knew that’s what I wanted to do,’ she recalls. It wasn’t long before her dream became a reality. Discovered at a club by DJ Pepsi, Tamara was introduced to Bruce Sebitlo and Oscar Mdlongwa of Brothers of Peace, the forefathers of Kwaito music. Their collaboration produced the track Thath ‘Mphahlayakho, which became a chart-topping hit in 2001, catapulting Tamara onto the local music scene while she was still studying musical theatre at Tshwane University. Dubbed the First Lady of Kwaito, Tamara travelled all over the country as part of the Sony Summer Sounds Tour, with BOP and a group of 60 artists including the likes of Mafikizolo, Trompies, Senyaka and Goofy. ‘We performed in extremely rural areas and townships across the country, on the outskirts of Venda, in Soweto. I remember looking out from the stage and seeing 1 000s of eager young African faces. I grew up on that stage, and became fully immersed in that world.’