Heather Mac rose to prominence in the South African rock music
firmament in the early 1980s, as the lead singer of Ella Mental, an outfit
hailed by music promoter, Roddy Quin, then scrounging for talent for
EMI (SA), as “the most innovative and progressive group of people this
country had ever seen”.
Heather was first “discovered” in 1981 belting out a version of Bob
Marley’s No Woman, No Cry at Mangles, a Braamfontein folk club, by
the guitarist Tim Parr, late of the blues-rock outfit, Baxtop, and he
approached the tall, striking vocalist, saying he was looking for someone
to sing some new songs he’d been writing.
At first, Heather worked with Tim as a backing vocalist but, by the time
Ella Mental started gigging, Heather had moved centre stage as the
group’s focal point. As the Afrikaans writer Deon Maas noted, “Watching
Heather Mac was unlike watching any other lead vocalist of the time.
Poised dramatically under strong lights that isolated her from the rest
of the band, strong arm movements reminiscent of pre-war Berlin
performance art, it was only her voice that kept on reminding you that
you were actually listening to a rock band.”
The group’s first single, Pressure, was released in 1984, and the following
year, their first album, Uncomplicated Dreams. The group criss-crossed
the country, building up a dedicated fan base through dynamic live
appearances. Despite their popularity, it soon became clear that they had
reached a ceiling of sorts in South Africa. One of their subsequent singles,
Madmen, was even ludicrously banned by the apartheid authorities as it
appeared to be a criticism of then-president PW Botha’s government.
With the rest of the group in tow, Heather and Tim decamped to Ireland,
where they worked on breaking into the international market. The breaks
never came, and after a while, bassist Adrian Levi returned to South Africa
and drummer Herman Eugster left for Switzerland. But Heather and Tim
plugged on with a new version of the group and they were signed by
Warner Bros following a gig at the Marquee Club in London. Heather and
Tim moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to record the Ella Mental album. It was
released in the US, the UK, Australia and Europe - but sadly, not in South
Africa. The group finally disbanded in 1992.
It was also the end of Heather and Tim’s marriage. Heather returned to
South Africa with her children, Amber and Luke, in December 1991. It took
her a full two years, before she was to perform and write songs again.
In 1994, the short-lived Heather Mac Band was formed, with singer-
songwriter-guitarist Edi Niederlander, the late Ilne Hofmeyr on bass, and
drummer Steve Howells.
In 1997, Heather wrote and co-created In The Mix, a seven part SABC TV
series funded by the Department of Education. Shortly thereafter, until
about 2004, Heather became a citizen of what she refers to as “the
corporate world”, working for a national retail chain.
But the world of music and performance was always close at hand.
Heather appeared in a number of Jazzart productions and, more
importantly, she also met her current partner, the guitarist Mark Harris,
who has been performing with her since 1997. Together with Mark,
Heather has also been appearing with The Brills, a group that also
includes former Bright Blue bassist Ian Cohen and singer Tonia Selley.
Apart from singing, Heather has also carved a significant career for
herself in theatre. She is the founding director, principal coach and creator
of MORE, a co-operative, non-profit communications company that
focuses on personal and leadership development in the corporate, NGO
and artistic performance fields.
More recently, amongst other things, she served as an Employee Wellness
consultant to The Clicks Group, providing staff training and leadership
development spanning all aspects of Employee Wellness and HIV Disease
Management. She was part of the team that researched, designed,
launched and implemented the groundbreaking, award winning EWP on
the group’s behalf in 2005.
Heather is currently designing processes to enable young people and
members of vulnerable and marginalised areas in the Western Cape
to realise their creative potential and take a leading role in their own
communities.
Her theatre company, MORE Theatre has produced three children’s musical
productions based on African folk tales. Her most recent production,
Snake Magic, represented South Africa at the 10th Annual African
Theatre Festival for Children and Young People in Yaoundé, Cameroon in
November 2008.
Now, in 2011, she returns as a recording artist with her new album, Within,
a collection of personal songs gathered from the last 25 years of her life.
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