Lebo M faces the music in new reality series
Lebo M — Coming Home , the latest Showmax Original reality series, is now streaming.
It is a front-row seat to see the life of one of SA’s most successful exports, Lebohang
Morake, affectionately known as Lebo M.
The Soweto-born singer and composer is the first voice you hear in The Lion King , a highlight of Hans Zimmer’s Oscarwinning soundtrack.
The subsequent stage show became the highest-grossing
Broadway production of all time, while Lebo M also executive-produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010
Fifa World Cup, has had his songs streamed more than 250million times on Spotify alone, and won the 2020 DStv Mzansi
Viewer ’ s Choice 1Life Legend Award.
Lebo M — Coming Home takes you behind the scenes of that illustrious career.
It delves into how he got his musical break as a nine-yearold, his memories of the 1976
Soweto uprising, how he went into exile in Lesotho by mistake as a teenager and how he spent time living on the streets in the US.
The story Lebo M tells of the night he won a Grammy will undoubtedly put a smile on your face.
“I received a Grammy in 1994, the same year SA welcomed its first black president,” he said.
“I was in a toilet when my name was announced — security ran with me out the toilet, through an aisle, onto the stage to accept the award.”
It has been 26 years since that memorable Grammy night, and Lebo M is now comfortably nestled in his new home at the opulent Blair Atholl Golf Estate with his third wife, Angela, his 95-yearold mother and four of his children.
“Celebrity, success and fame are largely a perception,” Lebo M said.
“There are average human beings behind the myths.” Lebo M has helped raise nine children: Zakiya, Nthabiseng, Refilwe, Tshepiso, Mthunzi, Ketso, Letti, Lulo and Thembalethu, who tragically died.
His son, Tshepiso, recently became a father himself, but his relationship with Lebo M is strained at the beginning of the series.
While these kinds of ten
sions make for great drama — perfect for a reality TV show — why would Lebo M do this?
He is notorious about his privacy, so why lay it all out for us to see?
“I feel the need to say: ‘ Hello SA, I have no clue who the guy
the gossip papers have been writing about is.
“The one who’s been married a million times’.” He hopes the reality series starts a conversation about fatherhood in SA.
“I don’t necessarily agree a lot with SA men’s fathering attitudes or stances.”
And Lebo M hopes his story can inspire.
“In the past, I loved the idea that very few people could put the name Lebo M to the face.
“But I’ve realised over the years that my work and career can have a positive impact on young people in my country of birth, especially those who come from my humble beginnings.” Additional episodes of Lebo M— Coming Home are coming first to Showmax on Tuesday and December 16, when all 10 episodes will be ready to binge view.