Brenda Fassie releases "Weekend Special"

In February 1983 Brenda Fassie, eighteen, from Langa in Cape Town and named after the American singer Brenda Lee, released "Weekend Special" with the Big Dudes. Written by Melvyn Matthews and produced by Blondie Makhene and Malcolm Watson, the song about a woman kept for weekends only sold more than 200,000 copies and was the fastest-selling single of the year. A remix reached the American Billboard black singles chart in 1986. Fassie became one of the best-loved and most talked-about singers in the country until her death in May 2004.