Vusi Mkhize is a well-travelled veteran lead guitarist and vocalist from South Africa.
When looking at Vusi Mkhize’s history one is not surprised that he turned out to be great in guitar playing and music in general. He hails from the place called Ntshongweni, just outside of Hammarsdale in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Vusi Mkhize was blessed to have the South African great musicians for inspiration at his doorstep. It was in his area where he got to see the likes of Themba Nzuza, Duza Mthethwa, David Masondo from the Soul Brothers group and many others. Watching the bands rehearse at Bra Themba Nzuza’s place, he fell in love with the guitar and then decided to ask Bra Themba Nzuza to teach him this instrument.
After completing his matric he had to leave home to look for greener pastures because now the musicians like The Soul Brothers had already moved to Johannesburg. He moved to Umlazi to join Afro Praises Gospel group. The group disbanded which forced him to move down to the South Coast where he teamed up with a gentleman called Maveshe to form a band. That band also split; he then joined a group called Thatha from Clermont and it also fizzled out after some time. This experience prompted him to start a band that he vowed to himself that it would not fall into the same trap like other bands but it would continue forever. The band was called Sakhula and he started it in 1995.
Sakhula had such a great streak performing in many venues in and around Durban. It was only in 1998 where their years of preparation were met with a lifetime opportunity while performing at The BAT Centre for tourists. They were then selected to go to China as part of the South African Airways entourage as they were going there to launch a new route for the airline company. They spent 3 weeks in China performing in many places during the day and worked as a resident band every night at the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hotel in Hong Kong. This news scored them many bookings when they returned to the country and every promoter wanted to have them on their line-up.