January 23, 2018

Born in South African in 1939, Hugh Masekela first got turned on to the trumpet after seeing the 1950 biopic about Bix Beiderbecke called Young Man with a Horn.

In 1960, at the age of 21, he started feeling the heat from South African authorities because of his anti-apartheid activities, which would lead him to be in exile from the country for over 30 years.

During his 60 plus year career, Masekela befriended Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, performed at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, landed a number one hit with "Grazing In The Grass" (which sold over 4 million copies) and guested on songs like the Byrds "So You Wanna Be A Rock-n-Roll Star."

In the last decade, he had been suffering prostate cancer. That cancer took his life last night at the age of 78.

What are you listening to tonight?

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon