[2] Having grown up among a Christian community[3] in Port Elizabeth, at 15 they moved to Johannesburg, leaving the church[4] in 2013 and publicly celebrating their queerness with their debut album Brave Confusion.

[5] They found both controversy and critical acclaim with their starring role in John Trengove's 2017 feature film Inxeba (The Wound), and relocated to London[6] to record and release 2018's heavily autobiographical album You Will Not Die.

Their work has been championed by Elton John, who interviewed Nakhane on his Beats 1 radio show,[7] and Madonna, who cited them as one of her two favourite artists[8] and said their music influenced her 2019 album Madame X.

[11] At seven they were adopted by their aunt,[12] whom they has said is "to all intents and purposes" their mother,[12] and their husband, growing up with them in Port Elizabeth, attending a racially-integrated school,[12] where they learnt to speak English.

[17] Meeting a pastor's son, they became devoutly religious, joined a conservative Baptist Church, regularly attended bible studies, undertook gay conversion therapy, and preached against homosexuality.

[12] As a teenager they were inspired by George Michael's music and unapologetic queerness,[25] and was later influenced by Radiohead,[26] Leonard Cohen,[1] and South African acts such as TKZee, Brenda Fassie, Hugh Maskela and Thandiswa Mazwai.

[1] Their debut album, the acoustic guitar-driven Brave Confusion, released on 29 July 2013, was influenced by Ali Farka Touré and West African music.

'[29] Eschewing acoustic guitar, they wrote it on piano,[17] recording 98% of it with producer Ben Christophers at the latter's London studio;[14] Nakhane settled in the city in February 2018.

[32] Clash Music called it 'an incredibly beautiful document of self-acceptance, a soaring ode to self-worth, a blissful, remarkably assured piece of creativity.

[37] In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, sparking the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named them one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".

[39] After they met, Trengove asked them if they'd audition to play the lead role of factory worker Xolani in the film,[39] which deals with ulwaluko – a Xhosa initiation into manhood involving circumcision, which Nakhane had undertaken aged 20.