Background
Thandi Klaasen, née Mpambane, grew up in Sophiatown.
Thandi Klaasen, née Mpambane, grew up in Sophiatown.
She is the mother of singer Lorraine Klaasen. When she was a teenager, her face was permanently scarred by a mix of thinners and petroleum. Her career as a singer and dancer began in the mid-1950s.
In 1961, she moved to London to work in the musical King Kong.
She has since performed with Dolly Rathebe, Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuka, and others