Anyone who's watched The Lion King would be familiar with Lebo Morake's voice because it is his voice behind the cry that marks the birth of Simba in the opening of the animated movie. What's more, he's also worked on the score with celebrated musicians and composers such as Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, and Elton John. The Lion King theatrical show is also somewhat a permanent feature in the West End, now running for a whopping 20 years.
But long before the fame and Grammy-win, Lebo M, as he prefers to be called, was busking on the street because he was homeless. His childhood wasn't easy either because it ย was poverty stricken and coincided with the height of apartheid during the 1960s and 1970s.
He told The Stage: "There were very few choices in the township. I was horrible at soccer and boxing. I lasted 25 minutes in the boxing ring. So I joined a youth club and did ballroom dancing. I loved it because there was music and you got to be close up with the ladies. It was better than running up and down a soccer field, or being beaten up at boxing."
He added that The Lion King's success was unexpected. "I became isolated from the success of the movie initially. It became more about the three white guys โ Elton, Tim, and Hans โ until the Broadway stage show, when I became more comfortable with being identified as one of the co-writers. The scale of the [stage] project and the subsequent demand for replica shows sucked me out of my isolation.โ
Last year December, he attended The Lion King LIVE in Concert The Sun Arena Times Square.
"This has been a very exciting year in the journey of The Lion King, in the year we celebrated 25 years of The Lion King," he said. "Iโm very excited and honoured that the final statement made to the world in this important yearโฆ is in South Africa."
See the rest of his interview:
Watch the remake of The Lion King, your Sunday night movie on 29 March at 20:05 on M-Net, channel 101.
If you miss any movie on M-Net 101 you can always watch them on DStv Catch Up or on M-Net Movies Premiere channel 104.
Featured image: Lebo M. attends Twitter's fan premiere of Disney's The Lion King at Hollywood and Highland Centre on July 10, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Twitter)