EXCLUSIVE: Remembering a legend (Video)
They would often travel to performances together, and Barbara recalled one particular road trip where they found themselves stranded on the side of the road.
“He was always so professional.”
This is how Brakpan country music icon Barbara Ray will remember her counterpart and fellow country music legend Lance James, who died on Monday at the age of 81 following a long illness.
The country music legend, known as ‘Big Daddy’ to legions of South African country music fans, was born Lance James Liebenberg on July 18, 1938, in Springs.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald on Monday evening, Barbara, a Brenthurst resident, explained she first met Lance in the early 1970s.
They were friends for almost 50 years.
“After our first meeting, I used to listen to his show on Springbok Radio and he used to play my songs and I heard his music,” said Barbara.
“We then just sort of got to know each other.”
They recorded many songs together and Barbara’s first single with Lance, After The Fire Is Gone, was released in 1977.
Several albums followed, and in 1979 Barbara and Lance won a vocal group SARIE award.
“I have lost count of how many shows we have done together,” she said.
They would often travel to performances together, and Barbara recalled one particular road trip where they found themselves stranded on the side of the road.
“We were stuck outside of Standerton because he hadn’t put water in the car,” she said.
“He told me to hitchhike to town while he waited in the car, and I did.
“When I got back to the car he was still just sitting there.”
They shared many amusing moments on stage too.
“We would sometimes forget the words to our songs,” Barbara admitted.
“We knew each other so well we could fix it with no one being any the wiser, but we used to laugh.”
Barbara considered Lance a brother.
“He and my husband Jack knew each other very well and Lance was there for me when Jack died in 1983.
“Through the years, we became very close and I was also there for him when his wife died.
“Lance also knew my children and my son Brett (43) described Lance as a second dad.”
The duo last performed together in October, last year.
“And then I heard over December that he was unwell,” she said.
“It’s very sad to now think he’s gone.
“He started off as an agent in the country music scene and built it up to what it became.”
Read: WATCH: How visualising death can help us accept it
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