Lebo Sekgobela

Lebo Sekgobela (born in 1981) at Sebokeng is a renowned gospel artist known for her powerful vocals and uplifting performances. Quotes The success of Restored has really overwhelmed me to be honest so when I got the news that I was nominated for a Sama I could not believe it. It is such a huge category and there is such amazing talent in South Africa so the fact that I am included is a little surreal. It's only by the grace of God that this nomination came my way. I did not expect Restored to be so successful, when I released it I obviously hoped that people would enjoy it. When I released my previous albums I thought that those would be extremely successful but they were not and for me, I personally thought that some of my best work were on those albums, so when I put Restored together I did not expect much. This album has really shown me that everything happens in God’s time. It has also shown me that God thinks very differently to us. He took this album and did more with it then I could have ever imagined, when I saw it as just an ordinary album, he saw it as a multi-platinum album. Now I definitely think that all my previous work was a ladder for me, you know sometimes with a ladder, it won’t work if the ladder is not placed on the ground correctly, once you have it placed on the ground correctly, you can use it for as much as you want to and my previous albums feel like that have been my ground work and my journey up the ladder. It’s my time now. There is actually a funny story behind that song, when I was recording my live dvd, I was not going to actually sing Lion of Judah then I randomly decided while on stage, to perform it and I did not expect it to blow up that way it has, people absolutely love it. Whenever I perform people expect me to sing that song first and honestly I sometimes get tired of it because there are many other songs I sing off my albums, but I understand that it means a lot to people. Many people think award ceremonies and the system of recognising great talent and work is overrated, I am not one of those people. I think they are important because you get to recognise hard work. Having said that, I must also saying that winning awards or being nominated for them is a bonus because for me, people loving and enjoying the music I make is an award on its own. I think for the longest time we have undermined ourselves as one of the biggest genres in the industry. We have amazing talent, power and influence and I think it's time we started using that, at a time now where South Africans are not optimistic about the future, we can change that. SAMA nod for Lebo Sekgobela I got raped at a very young age. I was six and it was one of my sister’s friends. The second time it happened it was one of our neighbours. I went through that, but I’m a strong woman now. I received my healing through God’s love when I was older, because when I was young I couldn’t tell anyone. Reading an article about someone who went through it, or when you see men, then you would be afraid. You would say: ‘What if this one would do the same thing?’ You would be afraid to go to the shop or walk alone. But when you are older, you are able to tell others – your kids, your neighbour’s kids and the community – somebody needs to be aware of certain things and if you went through it, it doesn’t mean that you are dirty and you deserved it. You were a victim of that. I did not take it seriously then because it was just a thing – you have a voice. But from the moment I was born again, it had a meaning and it was why I sang gospel. I could relate to the music and the message of the songs I sang in church – and this had a different meaning than just singing to or worshipping God. Lebo Sekgobela on finding love, June 16 2015 Category:1981 births Category:1980s Category:Gospel singers Category:Living people