It is also only the second album in the group's 50-year career to feature female Zulu vocalists singing alongside the male members.

Nellie began singing with other female churchgoers and eventually formed her own choir, which she later named Women of Mambazo.

In May 2002, before Women of Mambazo could build a name for itself, Nellie was brutally murdered by a masked gunman, and the recordings of Zulu church music that she had made with her group in the studio in 2000 remained unreleased for many years.

[4] In 2010, the opportunity finally arose and the group decided to mix together their own voices with the unreleased recordings Nellie made with Women of Mambazo in 2000.

[1] Upon its eventual release in early 2014, Always With Us garnered positive reviews, noting a "bittersweet" and "emotional" nature to the album's ten songs.