After her passing on Tuesday at the age of 36, tributes were given to the award-winning South African singer Zahara, whose debut record catapulted her into celebrity overnight.

Zahara was initially hospitalized at a hospital in Johannesburg last month. Her record company and the country's minister of arts announced her death late on Monday.

Born Bulelwa Mkutukana into a low-income family in a community close to East London, Zahara rose to fame with her signature guitar and enormous Afro hairdo.

When Zahara was younger, she taught herself how to play the guitar and participated in choruses. Her voice was likened to that of India Arie, Joan Armatrading, and Tracy Chapman.

Her first album, Loliwe, sold out in less than 72 hours, propelling her into the spotlight in 2011.

2012 saw Zahara appear on the bill of Africa's largest jazz festival with Hugh Masekela, James Ingram, and Lauryn Hill among others.

She put out five albums and received 17 South African Music Awards, the highest honour in the nation, overall.

In a 2012 interview with AFP, Zahara described how she had performed a song in the home of Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon of South Africa.

“That was emotional for me. I remember I cried when I started singing to the finish and I even messed up my song,” she recalled.

Sports, arts and culture minister Zizi Kodwa wrote on X, the former Twitter, that she was “very saddened” by the death of the singer.

Her record label, Warner Music Africa, also expressed its "mourning" of the passing.

“Her lasting memory in our hearts and mind must be her ability to bring comfort and resonate with the struggles of the poorest of the poor,” the radical Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party said in a statement.

Although Zahara's cause of death is unknown, a family statement from last month stated that she was brought to the hospital "following complaints about physical pains."

Her management disclosed that she was suffering from liver disease in 2019.