(who went to six different schools in three different countries in five years and was learning to play classical Spanish guitar) was 14 years old when he heard a garden boy by the name of Charlie Mzila play guitar at a corner cafe in Yeoville, Johannesburg. The sound of the Bellini guitar intrigued little Johnny, and over the next few years he learnt fundamentals of the Zulu culture and traditional "inhlangwini" dancing and stick fighting as he accompanied Mzila to the migrant labour haunts.
This raised the attention of another migrant worker, Sipho Mchunu, who had come to Johannesburg in search of work. In 1969 he tracked Johnny down at his home and challenged him to a guitar duel in his kitchen. This sparked off a friendship and musical partnership and they started playing together as a duo under the name of "Johnny and Sipho". Their infectious melodies and gentle presence didn't disguise the fact that this union between an illiterate gardener from rural Zululand and a Joburg academic was as radical a musical statement as it was possible to make at the height of apartheid repression.
Their first musical breakthrough came in 1976 when, as "Johnny and Sipho
Members
- Gilbert Mathews
- Sipho Gumede
- Johnny Clegg
- Sipho Mchunu
- Derek De Beer
- Scorpion Madondo
- Gary Van Zyl
- Johnny Boshoff
- Glenda Millar
- Andy Innes