[5] At the age of 17, Makeba met her American husband Harold Nelson Lee, with whom in the early to mid-1970s she made two 7" records as "Bongi and Nelson", featuring two soul tracks arranged by George Butcher: "That's the Kind of Love" backed by "I Was So Glad" (France: Syliphone SYL 533), and "Everything, For My Love" with "Do You Remember, Malcolm?"

[citation needed] She recorded only one solo album, Bongi Makeba, Blow On Wind (pläne-records), in 1980.

[citation needed] Her mother commissioned a song from Makeba for a celebration of Mozambique's independence in 1975; she wrote "Aluta Continua" (The Struggle Continues) with collaborator Bill Salter.

[6][7][8] Soon after the birth of Makeba's first child, her mother married Stokely Carmichael, which put a considerable strain on her life in the United States.

The following year, a pregnant Makeba went into premature labor, and died on 17 March 1985, aged 34, of complications after losing the unborn child.