Stimela is a legendary South African afro-fusion band, established by the late self-taught guitarist Raymond (Ray) Phiri who is also the leader of the band since its formation in 1982. He used to dance to his troubadour father’s puppet shows and saved enough money to travel to Johannesburg and started his own band. Phiri, along with Jabu Sibume on bass, Isaac Mtshali on drums and Lloyd Lelosa on keyboards were known as "The Cannibals". The group supplied instrumental accompaniment on recordings of other artists including The Mahotella Queens. They joined forces with vocalist Jacob "Mparanyana" Radabe in 1975, until his untimely death. In 1982, the band changed their name to Stimela, and further expanded with the addition of Thabelo Kgomo & Charlie Ndlovu on keyboards thus began a decade of gold and platinum selling albums. Their sound has a strong RnB and Gospel influence, a popular fusion of incorporating rock, folk and dance music but that has a fundamental African style at its heart.