‘I've Regained My Power'

Singer Amanda Black opens up about taking her former record label to court – and winning!

- Qhama Dayile

SHE’S perfectly poised when she pops into our offices. Tall, dark and confident, Amanda Black cuts a regal figure in a blue beaded wig, her face adorned with her signature dots.

“These dots make me feel in tune with my African culture,” she tells DRUM. “They are usually done by Xhosa women at traditional ceremonies, but I rock these every day to remind me of who I am – a proud Xhosa queen.”

It’s this fierceness that saw the singer face off against her former record label in a David and Goliath court battle. In an exclusive interview, Amanda opens up about why she slapped Ambitiouz Entertainment with a lawsuit – which she recently won.

“Ambitiouz made me,” she tells us candidly. “I loved them to death, and I appreciate the platform they gave me. They helped me find my sound and my identity and I will be eternally grateful. It’s a pity things had to end up in court.”

Her lawyer, Zola Majavu of Majavu and Associates, says the record label owed her a little under R1 million for overdue payment for bookings. “All outstanding amounts were paid to her” after the record company lost its appeal on the matter.

Contacted for comment, managing director Kgosi Mahumapelo says Ambitiouz Entertainment is a principled business. “I am not going to jump every time artists cough,” he says. “The business can withstand anything because we are professional.”

Amanda tells us her relationship with the record company soured when she started asking about booking fee charges. “They said, don’t worry about it. Handle the music and we will handle the finances.

“That was not going to work for me. I needed transparency. I needed to know how much money I was still owed from the advance they gave me and how much I was making for every performance,” she says.