Musician & actress Nelisiwe Phaith Sibiya - the voice behind Lockdown's theme song - broke into the industry after being discovered by actor and director Mandla N and has been striding in the industry and her recognition keeps growing. 

But life for her was not so smooth sailing and went through the most before getting into the industry.

In a recent interview on Afternoon Express Nelisiwe shared her life story and that she is still in debt. Relating to the Lockdown series, Nelisiwe said that the only thing that could make her go to jail was if she were to kill a man.

“The only reason why I’d go to jail is when I kill a man cause I’ve been through a lot in my life, with a man we really thought was supposed to be our father, but there was emotional abuse...number one, the reason why I was hurt...I had to build a house for my mother from scratch when I was in matric..”

Read: 21 Thoughts I had while watching Lockdown season 2, episode 1

Nelisiwe also had to put her plans of taking herself to school in the backseat in order to build her late mother a house in Kwa-Zulu Natal after matric, using the money she had saved up for her studies, however after managing to build the house for her mother, she passed away.

“I decided to take my money, that I had saved up for my fees and build a house. Immediately after the house was done, she passed away and left it…” she said

Nelisiwe went on to add that she is still in debt with some loans that she had to take in her name for her uncle growing up.

“I was really scared of being in the limelight and having to deal with the media” she added

Nelisiwe is striding strong despite her circumstances, a courageous artist who is now known for her single Mama Ka Bafana (Lockdown’s theme song) which was written for her mother and was recorded a day after burying her.

“My mothers funeral was on Saturday, I had to go back to Joburg on Sunday...on Monday I was in studio and then we created mama ka bafana.”

• You might like to read: Nelisiwe the songbird behind Lockdown's many songs

Main Image Credit: Instagram/@Nelisiwe_Phaith_Sibiya