Birth name: Zanele Gloria Masemola
Also known as: Mazet
Born: September 04, 1984
Origin: Daveyton, Benoni – South Africa
Occupation(s): Singer – songwriter
Genre(s): Contemporary Pop/Dance (House); Afro-Pop/Soul
Instrument(s): Vocals
Years active: 2001 – Present
Label: Lonegen Entertainment (Production deal)
Associated Acts: Mina Nawe; Bricks; Lady Jaydee; Bongo Maffin

Previously stage named Mazet, Zane (Zulu pronunciation) was born on the 4^th of September 1984 and full named Zanele Gloria Masemola, raised in Daveyton-Benoni east of Johannesburg-South Africa. She is best known as a singer through being the lead vocalist of an Afro-Pop/Soul trio Mina Nawe, with whom she won multiple awards, like the 2006 Metro FM Music Award for Best African Pop, and is a 2008 South African Music Awards nominee.

Early life:

Zane (short for Zanele) was influenced and inspired by her childhood music icons (Brenda Fassie and Boom Shaka) at an early age to sing at her primary school assemblies and events, with her love for gospel music leading her to join her church’s junior choir where she attracted the attention of gospel music producer and label owner, Tshepo Nzimande, but due to her young age her mother declined a prospective recording deal.

Career

Having developed her singing abilities through singing in her church’s junior choir and primary school events, during her high school years Zane’s powerful singing voice led to meeting the producer and song-writer duo, Carlo and ManChild, with whom she formed the Afro-Pop/Soul trio Mina Nawe in the year 2000. The trio got signed to a Sheer Sounds recording deal in 2001 through the assistance of the award winning recording artist Jeff Maluleke, and they went on to be award winning/nominated artists themselves, releasing three (3) albums with the label. As a collective one of their well recognized songs is a Kentphonik Mix of their song “Where I Wanna Be” a remix by dj’s Kent and Euphonik.

After years of extensive work as the lead vocalist of Mina Nawe, Zane began her solo career by signing a casino singer 3years contract with Sun International’s Meropa Casino in Polokwane, North West-South Africa in 2009. The initial casino singer contract preceded signing an international Mother Africa production 2years contract, which saw her tour around Europe and North Africa performing in countries like Germany and Egypt. She took a break from performing in 2014 just after standing in for Thandiswa Mazwai for a brief period to perform as Bongo Maffin, and lending her vocals in collaborating with other recording artist, like Bricks and Big Dreamz, on their projects.

Zane’s personal responsibilities break as a performing artist has come to an end as she resumes her solo career, with the release of newly recorded music under the production deal with Lonegen Entertainment. With the new music she is retiring Mazet as her stage name and adopting a shortened version of her real name Zanele, to henceforth be known as Zane.