Alexandra Shungudzo Govere, better known as Shungudzo, is a Zimbabwean-American singer and reality television personality. She first attracted media attention by being the first black female gymnast to represent Zimbabwe in artistic gymnastics at the 1999 All-Africa Games, and later by co-founding the Kijana Project, which provides relief for AIDS orphans. She later gained wide media attention as a cast member on the 2011 season of '' The Real World: San Diego''.

Early life

Alexandra Govere was born in the United States and grew up in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, in a rural village that was home to straw-covered mud huts, and did not have electricity or running water.Goldner, Brandon
"Sing. Dance. Write. Andra Govere: The most amazing 20-something you haven't heard of. Yet…"
. ''Brass'' magazine. May 2, 2011 She is of

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

, French, and

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

descent. Her family eventually relocated to California, and as of the early 2000s, she was living in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

."Ready for their world: Two teens with the right stuff join the global party"

BNET ''BNET'' was an online magazine dedicated to issues of business management. It was owned by CBS Interactive and was a part of its business portfolio alongside ZDNet, TechRepublic, SmartPlanet SmartPlanet was an online magazine that covered ...

Career

Ballet, gymnastics and education

Govere practiced dancing and ballet, and according to her, became the first female of color to be on the Zimbabwe National Gymnastics Team at age 9. Her parents, both of whom are college graduates, encouraged her in her studies as well. She studied calculus at age 10, and finished high school by 14. She later attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where she studied civil engineering.Real World: San Diego: Cast: Alexandra
MTV. Retrieved September 30, 2011. Govere was the first black female artistic gymnast to represent Zimbabwe at the 1999 All-Africa Games in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

."Zim songstress causes a stir"
. ''The Zimbabwean''. July 30, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2011.Johnson, Steve

AllAfrica AllAfrica is a website that aggregates news produced primarily on the African continent about all areas of African life, politics, issues and culture. It is available in both English and French and produced by AllAfrica Global Media, which has of ...

.com. October 25, 1999 She was also the youngest member of the 162-member team.

Charity work

In 1997, Govere began collecting clothing for orphans who lost their parents to AIDS. By 2002, the Kijana Project,Olson, Linnea
"The Kids Are Alright"
''

Elle Girl ''Elle Girl'' was the largest older-teen fashion and beauty magazine brand in the world with twelve editions. Launched in August 2001, it was the younger sister version of ''Elle'' magazine, and similarly focused on beauty, health, entertainm ...

'' Sep–Oct 2003. page 141.

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. Retrieved August 4, 2011. as it came to be called, had expanded to an international organization run by then-15-year-old Govere and her sister Saunsuray, consisting of 50 members who aided orphans in six different countries, raising money for clothing, toys and school supplies, as well as paying for the education of some AIDS orphans. Govere was spurred to this work after witnessing many of her childhood classmates affected by AIDS, and seeing the rising number of orphans living on the streets of Harare. In 2000, she worked with her sister in collecting money for Red Cross flood relief in Mozambique. For breaking the color barrier in artistic gymnastics, and for her humanitarian work, Govere was designated a Disney-UNESCO Millennium Dreamers Ambassador.

Music and television

While attending Stanford University, Govere was discovered by

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

' Grammy Award-winning producer, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, who had heard some songs Govere placed on MySpace for her mother to hear. Although she initially met with Brothers with the intent to be a songwriter, he made her sing vocals, and recognized her talent. With him, she released a mixtape, " Love is 4 Suckaz/I'm a Sucka 4 Love", some songs from which are available on YouTube. ''Brass'' magazine describes the mixtape as "a high-wattage soup of synthetic beats and heavy post-production mixing", whose lyrics focus on the themes of love, jealousy, revenge and anti-consumerism. Describing Govere's voice, Brandon Goldner of ''Brass'' says, " er voicecan range from bright and flute-like to a rougher, almost smoky honesty" Although Govere planned to debut a 2011 album with Krucial, She announced in October 2011 that she left Krucial to take the independent route. She has co-written a number of hit songs such as

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

's "

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

" and

Louisa Johnson Louisa Johnson (born 11 January 1998), also known mononymously as Louisa, is a British singer. In 2015, she won the twelfth series of ''The X Factor''. She subsequently released her winner's single " Forever Young", which peaked at number nin ...

's " Best Behaviour", and has released a song on the ''

Fifty Shades Freed ''Fifty Shades Freed'' is the third and final installment of the erotic romance ''Fifty Shades Trilogy'' by British author E. L. James. After accepting entrepreneur CEO Christian Grey's proposal in '' Fifty Shades Darker'', Anastasia Steele m ...

'' soundtrack. In 2018, she released her latest single, "Paper". Govere was a cast member on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's '' The Real World: San Diego'', which aired in 2011. Govere was also a writer, host, and correspondent for both

Act and MTV Voices."Alexandra Govere"
MTV Act Blog. Retrieved May 19, 2012."Alexandra Govere"
. MTV Voices UK. Retrieved May 19, 2012.

I'm not a mother, but I have children

Shungudzo released "It's a good day (to fight the system)", the first single from her debut album by Svikiro Records/Young Forever/BMG on October 30, 2020, as part of her three-track manifesto "I (motsi)". According to American Songwriter, "good day" is "a bold genre-defying anthem that balances passionate proclamations with sunny guitar and horn arrangements and stacked harmonies." Shungudzo followed up "good day" with the singles "To be me", which premiered on Paper video on February 2, 2021;) "There's only so much a soul can take" (song premiere on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

Apple Music 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

radio show and video premiere on FLOOD), "White parents" (premiere on Consequence of Sound on April 14, 2021), and the title track "I'm not a mother, but I have children." For "it's a good day" and "There's only so much a soul can take", Shungudzo was recognized as an "emerging artist to watch for in 2021" by ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

''. Hailed by

as "completely unique and individual" and as an artist to "match up with asap" by ''Essence'', "Shungudzo isn't putting up with the bullshit anymore" (Refinery29). Shungudzo performed "There's only so much a soul can take" on the June 9, 2021, episode of ''

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 202 ...

''.

Personal life

As of 2011, Govere was living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Byron, whom she began seeing eight months prior to filming ''The Real World''. Their relationship was depicted in episode 4 of that season when he visited her at the season residence.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Songwriting credits

References

External links

{{authority control Living people Sportspeople from Masvingo Province HIV/AIDS activists Zimbabwean female artistic gymnasts The Real World (TV series) cast members 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers American women songwriters American dance musicians American electronic musicians 21st-century Zimbabwean women singers American people of Zimbabwean descent American women in electronic music Competitors at the 1999 All-Africa Games African Games competitors for Zimbabwe 1990 births