Career
She had formed her own allied group,, in the 1970s. The group were beginning to create a name for themselves after touring with LBM in the United Kingdom in 2001, but disbanded after Nellie Shabalala was shot and killed by a masked gunman, initially for unknown reasons, in May 2002. In October 2001, Joseph Shabalala brought his wife"s group, (WOM) to the United Kingdom to support LBM in their thirty-date tour of the country.
After both Mambazo groups returned home to South Africa, Joseph organised the recording of WOM"s first album.
Tragedy struck Joseph when, in May 2002, Nellie was murdered in outside their home in Claremont by a masked gunman. Shabalala"s hand was injured after struggling to catch his wife"s killer.
Tributes immediately began pouring in for Nellie from a wide cross-section of fans, friends, and fellow musicians from around the world. The trial ended in March 2004 when Nellie"s real killer, Mboneni Mdunge, was sentence to life imprisonment.
The unfinished album, Mamizolo, was posthumously released in 2003 as a tribute to Nellie Shabalala.