“I will sing until the last day of my life.”

So Miriam Makeba predicted, and so she did. The gorgeous South African songbird known and loved worldwide as “Mama Africa” and “The Empress of South Africa,” collapsed shortly after sharing her musical messages of love, equality and freedom at a November 9 charity concert near Naples, Italy. After being rushed to a medical clinic, Makeba died of a heart attack at age 76.

Nelson Mandela said in tribute, “It was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others – and again in support of a good cause.” Makeba’s final performance was part of a protest against organized crime, which has been blamed for the September murders of six Ghanaian immigrants and threats against the journalist who covered the story.

Throughout her life, Makeba shared her dazzling talents with such legends as Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon. She sang for John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. She married musical and political icons, suffered political exile more than once, and became the first African to win a Grammy Award.

From the start of her career in 1950s South Africa, Makeba became the face and the voice of a continent, known and loved worldwide for her enchanting songs and eloquent statements against the evils of South African apartheid and injustice around the globe.

Makeba performed with, and later married, South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela, and gained international attention with a starring role in the 1959 anti-apartheid documentary, “Come Back, Africa.” When her mother died the following year and she flew to South Africa for the funeral, Makeba found that her passport had been revoked. In 1963, she testified against apartheid before the United Nations, resulting in the revocation of her South African citizenship and the right to return to her homeland as well. She did not see South Africa again until 1990, when President Nelson Mandela asked her to return. “I never understood why I couldn’t come home,” Makeba said. “I never committed any crime.”

A controversial marriage to Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Touré)  civil rights activist and leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the turbulent 1960s, led to the cancellation of Makeba’s record deals and tours. She and Carmichael moved to Guinea. After their separation in 1973, Makeba continued to perform, mostly throughout Africa, South America and Europe.

With creativity at the center of her life, Makeba never stopped extending her talents to the world. In 1966, she became the first African woman to win a Grammy Award, in the category of Best Folk Recording, with Harry Belafonte for “An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba,” which explored the political plight of Black South Africans under apartheid.

In 1987, she appeared in Paul Simon’s Graceland tour, and published an autobiography, “Makeba: My Story.” After returning to South Africa in 1990, she made a guest appearance on the top-rated “The Cosby Show” in 1991. She starred in the acclaimed film “Sarafina!” about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, as the title character’s mother, Angelina, and shared her recollections of apartheid in the 2002 documentary, “Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony.”

Her humanitarian achievements were equally stellar. Makeba was awarded the Gold Otto Hahn Peace Medal by the United Nations Association of Germany in Berlin “for outstanding services to peace and international understanding” in 2001. She won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986 for her service as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations.

Despite her earlier banishments, Makeba more than regained her rights with nine passports and honorary citizenship in ten countries. In 2004, a nationwide poll conducted by a South African television station voted her 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. And though she suffered from severe arthritis, she embarked upon a 2005 worldwide farewell tour to all of the countries in which she had performed.

Makeba’s body was flown to South Africa for her funeral and burial. Rock superstar Sir Elton John shared his admiration of Makeba, and called for her to be honored as a hero with a state funeral. “She was the voice of South Africa, and she was an incredible woman,” John said.

Hailing Makeba as “one of the greatest songstresses of our time,” South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement, “Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song.”

“Mama Afrika: A Tribute Concert for Miriam Makeba,” featuring Harry Belafonte, Randy Weston, Les Nubians, Somi,Wumni, Bakithi & Robbi Kumalo and many more, was held November 16 in Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan, with proceeds donated to Sauti Yetu: Center for African Women (www.sautiyetu.org) in Makeba’s honor.