Don Clarke (songwriter)

Don Clarke (born February 14, 1955 in Johannesburg) is a South African singer-songwriter. Sanbonani, one of his early songwriting credits, was a national hit record in 1986. The Long Walk is Over received international exposure when it won the Grand Prize in the Great American Song Contest in 2013. The song is a tribute to Nelson Mandela, co-written by Kalla Bremer and performed by Don Clarke, Calvin Sthembiso & the Guns & Moses Choir. A copy of the CD is kept at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Repository.
Don Clarke married Wendy Stacey in August, 2010. The couple live in Howick, in the KZN Midlands of South Africa. Wendy is a founding member of the Drakondale Girls' Choir School. The choir feature in Don Clarke's recent music, notably on Till You're Free Again, a song which was used in the Leon Schuster film, Frank and Fearless. The film. like the song, highlights the problem of rhino being poached for the illegal horn trade. 
Don Clarke has recently finished writing his first book, Once Upon a Crutchmullet. Lockdown has delayed the distribution. 
== Songwriting ==
In 1986, Don Clarke's song "Sanbonani", performed by PJ Powers, won SABC's National Song Festival. He continues to write songs about life in South Africa. In 2015, a group of musicians from Durban united to record Dig a Little Deeper, a song about tackling xenophobia. His latest release, A Sad, Sad Song is about the recent lockdown due to Covid-19. 
== Adult Art - The Band Years ==
Don Clarke formed the band Adult Art in 1990. It was mainly a studio band, founded to record and promote the songs he had written. Adult Art was Don Clarke, Ronnie McNamara, Shaun Herbert, Wayne Rathbone and Dave Atkinson. Several of the band's songs appeared on the soundtrack for the 1991 movie Sweet 'n Short. The band released three albums in the 1990s. Adult Art disbanded in 2010 and reformed as an updated band under their new name, Crutch Mullets.
== Selected songwriting credits and awards ==
Year	Song 	Notes
1986	Sanbonani 	The National Song Festival winner
2008	Hey-Na 	Splashy Fen Song Winner
2010	Kick it Up! 	SABC FIFA World Cup 2010 Bafana song competition
2013	Long Walk is Over 	Great American Song Contest Grand Prize winner (with Kalla Bremer)
2016	Blame it on the Whites 	Song went viral
2018	'Till You're Free Again	Great American Song Contest 1st Place, Category Special - Anti Poaching
2020	Zuma Must Fall 	Written with Special Care/Thembiso Sithole- Viral election song
==In the media==
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== References ==
==External links==
* Don Clarke youtube channel
* Don Clarke on facebook
* Don Clarke | Music In Africa
* Don Clarke: Listen up Julius – here’s why land won’t solve SA’s challenges
* DON CLARKE - The Song Teller (OFFICIAL) Songs
* The Witness: 2019-04-02 - Don Clarke wins big - PressReader
* Watch: SA songwriter receives award for Rhino Poaching song!!!
Category:1955 births
Category:South African singers
Category:South African musicians
Category:South African songwriters
Category:South African singer-songwriters
Category:People from Johannesburg
Category:South African writers
Category:South African artists