Yolandi Fisser

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Biography Yolandi Fisser

Yolandi Visser is a South African singer and actress with a unique voice and style. The vocalist of the rap-rave group Die Antwoord, who manages to successfully maneuver between melodic melodic melodies with a childish voice and aggressive recitative.

Die Antwoord soloist Yolandi Fisser


Childhood and youth

Yolandi Fisser (real name Henri Du Toit) was born on December 1, 1984 in the small resort town of Port Alfred in eastern South Africa. She was adopted as an infant by a local Christian minister and his housewife wife. Yolandi has an older brother who is also an adopted child.

Yolandi Fisser with family in childhood


She never saw her real parents. Yolandi’s mother is white, and her father is a representative of the Negroid race, and since the girl was born in the difficult times of Apartheid for the country (a period of racial segregation), her maternal grandmother forced her daughter to abandon the child of mixed blood. At least, Fisser herself adheres to this version.

Henri attended St. Dominic’s Catholic School for Girls. Since childhood, the future outrageous singer felt that she was very different from her peers. She was a real rebel (“little punk,” as Yolandi described herself in her youth), often getting into fights with classmates. When she was 16 years old, she was expelled from school for bad behavior, so she completed her education at a boarding school in Pretoria (one of the three capitals of South Africa).

Yolandi Fisser’s height is 156 cm


The institution was located 9 hours drive from the parental home, but a creative atmosphere reigned within its walls. Here her creativity finally found an outlet. “For the first time I talked with the same creative, artistic guys!” she recalled.

Musical career

The fateful event in the life of Anri was moving to Cape Town in 2003 and meeting rapper Watkin Tudor Jones (Ninja from Die Antwoord). Then Die Antwoord was not in the plans – there was only the rap group The Constructus Corporation, in which, in addition to Watkin, Felix Laband was a member. The team lasted only about a year and released one album “The Ziggurat” – already there you can hear the voice of Yolandi.

Yolandi Fisser and Ninja


At the time, she didn’t know anything about hip-hop, but Watkin, who arranged auditions for her at his studio, was impressed: “She showed me her skills, and I was like, ‘Aaaah!'” He promised to teach her everything he knows.

Yolandi Fisser and Watkin Tudor Jones early in their careers


Subsequently, together Yolandi, Watkin, as well as producer and musician Hi-Tek (Justin De Nóbrega) and rapper Neon Don founded the MaxNormal.tv collective. The team was named after a character in the 1970s British science fiction anthology 2000 AD. For several years of existence, the group released two albums.

In 2008, Yolandi Fisser and Ninja formed the band Die Antwoord.


In 2008, the band Die Antwoord was formed, which means “answer” in Afrikaans. The team included Yolandi, Ninja and DJ Hi-Tek. DieAntwoord became part of the South African counterculture genre known as Zef. This movement is associated with the “white” petty-bourgeois subculture of South Africa.

According to Yolandi, “ZEF is when you are poor, but fashionable and sexy. You don’t have money, but you have style.”

The group’s debut album “$O$” was released in 2009. The record, which included the hits “Enter the Ninja”, “Rich Bitch” and “Super Evil”, as well as the unusual video “Enter the Ninja”, attracted the attention of listeners and critics from all over the world. Soon the group signed a contract with the American record label Interscope Records and began working on the release of video clips and new singles.

Yolandi Fisser has a unique voice

The videos of the group are distinguished by specificity and bright colors and tell about the life of ordinary people in South Africa. According to the artists, 90-95% of the people in the videos are their friends or acquaintances from the area.

In 2010, director David Fincher seriously considered Yolandi for the lead role in his film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She refused any negotiations: “I firmly decided that I would devote my life to music. No matter how cool this offer was, and even if I later regret it, no. As a result, the main character of the film was Noomi Rapace.

Yolandi Fisser and Die Antwoord quickly became popular


In 2011, Die Antwoord founded their own label, Zef Recordz, under whose auspices they released their second and third studio albums, TEN$ION (2012) and Donker Mag (2014). In 2011, they filmed a 15-minute short film, Give Me My Car, in which they appeared as wheelchair users in kugurumi.

Yolandi Fisser & Die Antwoord – Baby’s on fire

In 2015, Yolandi and Jones made their debut in Neil Blomkamp’s Hollywood film Chappie, about the first robot capable of thinking and feeling. The film also featured Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver. Several Die Antwoord compositions were used in the film. The picture received mostly negative reviews from critics, but brought public attention to the group.

The group’s fourth album, Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid, was released in 2016. The disc included joint tracks with American rapper Sen Dog, burlesque queen Dita Von Teese, singer and actor Jack Black.

Yolandi Fisser’s personal life

Yolandi and her bandmate share more than just a working relationship. In 2006, their daughter Sixteen was born, but they are officially married or not, is unknown.

Yolandi Fisser with her daughter and Ninja


Today, Sistine sings in The Boy With the Rainbow Face with his daughter Flea (bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Yolandi Fisser and her daughter Sistine


In 2010, Fisser and Ninja adopted Tokki, a 9-year-old street child from a nearby area.

I have always had a maternal connection with street children and outcasts. I saw a certain potential in Tokki and realized that he did not belong on the street. I didn’t care. Now he has grown up and become the most charming boy.

The children of the artists appeared several times in the group’s videos, and the photo with the newborn Sistine adorns the group’s album MaxNormal.tv.

Yolandi Fisser and her adopted son Tokki


Yolandi Fisser now

Die Antwoord’s new album, The Book of Zef, is expected to be released in 2018. The musicians are actively touring around different cities and countries of the world, presenting to listeners some songs from the new album, including the single “Love Drug”.

Die Antwoord

The musicians fueled rumors that this record would be their final. However, in the same press release, they stated that they had no plans to disband the group.

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