LINDA Gcwensa claims he wrote Mthande for Musa Sukwene and came up with the melody, but never got any credit for it.
The 26-year-old told Daily Sun that legendary producer, Robbie Malinga said he credited him with 50% ownership of the song when he registered it with Samro, but he had not profited from the song’s success.
“It broke my heart when a guy came up to me and said I was claiming to have written Mthande when everyone knew it was Bra Robbie’s song.”
The singer from Chesterville in eThekwini said his family didn’t understand why he had moved to Joburg to pursue a career in music as he had nothing to show for it.
Linda, who has produced songs for Zahara and Naima Kay, said for a long time he worked well with Robbie but suddenly tension grew between them.
“I don’t know what I did to upset him but we are not talking right now,” said Linda.
Robbie confirmed that Linda co-wrote Mthande and said he had been credited. “If you check with Samro you will see he is even registered there for all the work he made a contribution to.”
However, Robbie claimed he wrote the music for Mthande himself.
“There is more to a song than just the lyrics. There is no beef between Linda and myself.
“He is my product and I produced his whole album,” said Robbie.
“I found him in KZN when we were doing Clash of the Choirs. I saw he was a good songwriter and decided to bring him to Joburg to organise him a record deal with Universal.”
Samro’s marketing manager Tiyani Maluleke said: “We do not disclose member’s information without the consent of the members concerned.”
