Sizwe Sibiya
Loved and Lost: Deborah Fraser 1966-2022
“I feel that my contribution to the music has not been in vain. I am humbled; it is a true honour.”
Those were the proud words of the late Gospel icon Dr Deborah Fraser, after being honoured with a PhD in Sacred Music by the Christian Leadership Academy in November 2021.
Born on 9 June 1966 at the peak of the apartheid era, Fraser had to deal with the hardships of growing up in KwaMashu, Durban.
But attending the respected Ohlange High School in Inanda gave the Abanye Bayombona hitmaker hope that she was “destined to be on the list of great artists to change music”, she told Drum last year.
After finishing grade 12 in 1984 at the school – which was founded by the co-founder of the ANC, the late John Langa Libalele Dube – Fraser headed for Johannesburg at the age of 19.
She began performing as backing vocalist for numerous Mzansi musicians who were popular at the time like the late Brenda Fassie and the Isichathamiya group LadySmith Black Mambazo.
In 2000, she released her first of 18 studio albums titled Abanye Bayombona, which got her a recording deal with Universal Music. Together they have reportedly sold millions of hard copy CDs.
She was not famous for scandals, but in 2008 Fraser made headlines after her divorce from a Nigerian pastor, Sockey Okeke, after a year of their much documented marriage. The split was due to the alleged physical abuse which Fraser had endured.
Even after her failed marriage Fraser, who was then in her early forties, continued releasing albums that won her SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards, SA Music Awards and Kora Music Awards, to name a few.
In April this year Mzansi was shocked to see the music icon wheelchair-bound after being hospitalised in February for a month.
“Akasithembisanga impilo elula… Kodwa wathi nasebunzimeni uzoba nathi,” (He did not promise us an easy life… But he said he will be with us in our struggles) reads Fraser’s last Facebook post, posted on 5 May.
In November 2021, speaking to Drum after being honoured, Fraser promised fans she was going to release a new album this year.
But sadly on a worshipping day, Sunday 15 May 2022, the African Gospel giant passed away in the comfort of her home in Johannesburg before she could release the promised album. She was 56.
“It is with deep sadness to inform you of the passing of our beloved mother, sister, aunt and friend, and Gospel musician, Dr. Deborah Fraser, following a short Illness,” reads the statement released by her family through her Facebook page.
“She passed on today (Sunday 15.05.2022) after midday, in the presence of her family and friends.”
She is survived by her son Selwyn Fraser, singer Nomcebo Zikode’s husband.
Rest in eternal peace Dr Deborah Fraser.
