South African gospel star Oleseng Shadrack Shuping's soulful songs of praise can descend from a high plaintive bawl to a seismic baritone rumble. Born in Welkom in 1963 and raised in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, Oleseng joined the Atteridgeville Happy Boys choir at age 14, before releasing his debut album, Segopole Boikkantsho, in 1998. He released more than a dozen records until his early death of pneumonia in 2010, four years after an automobile crash paralyzed him and cost him a lung. As bandleader, he integrated elements of traditional isicathamiya a cappella singing and mbaqanga growling into Western gospel arrangements. Backed by The African Gospel Singers, Oleseng sang in an improvisatory style, extemporizing melodies with spontaneous verses that often narrated biblical texts from an eyewitness's point of view. His most successful album, 2003's Kea Cha, Kea Tuka, went triple-platinum, selling more than 150,000 copies.