Aura Lewis

Aura Msimang (Aura Lewis) (4 March 1947 – 28 December 2015), born Aurelia Msimang, was a South African singer who worked with Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff and recorded an album with Lee "Scratch" Perry in the late 1970s.

Early life and career

She was born Aurelia Msimang in Western Native Township, Johannesburg, South Africa on 4 March 1947.

After growing up in Johannesburg, she moved to the United States in the early 1970s and enrolled at New York's Hunter College. She married a jazz musician and became known as Aura Lewis. She became interested in reggae after seeing The Wailers perform at Max's Kansas City in 1972, and moved to Jamaica in 1976 where she enrolled in the Drama department of the Jamaica School of Arts, and began working with Cedric Brooks in the group United Africa. She was introduced to Jimmy Cliff, who asked her to join him on his 1977 West African tour as a backing vocalist, the tour filmed and released on video as Bongo Man. Cliff's band stopped off in London before returning to Jamaica, where she was taken to Island Records by Cliff, while Lee Perry and Bob Marley were working on "Punky Reggae Party" (released on Bob Marley & the Wailers' Exodus album). Perry...

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