Papa Penny whose real name is Eric Kulani Giyani Nkovani is a 56-year-old South African musician and politician who has a net worth of about $300,000. The Tsonga disco and House Kwaito musician rose from a less privileged background to not only become one of the most successful musicians in South Africa but also one of the richest. Though he made money as a musician, Penny Penny, as he is also referred to, has diversified his income sources to include sources that are no longer limited to music.<\/p>\n
The ace musician was born in 1962 in Limpopo, Bushveld, and wildlife reserves of South Africa, into a polygamous family where he had 24 stepmothers and 67 step-siblings. Eric was the youngest of his father’s 68 children and he grew up without receiving any formal education. For lack of better ways, he was raised in want and lack though his father earned a living as a traditional medicine man.<\/p>\n
Growing up, Penny Penny worked odd jobs to make ends meet, seeing how large his family was. He worked in the goldmines in West Driefontein which is near Carleton and also worked as a farmer at other times. Eric’s woes were compounded when his father died and with the terrible working conditions in the goldmines, in addition to the poor pay package the work came with, he decided to leave Carletonville.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, before Papa Penny left home, he had already become locally famous for his entertaining dancing skills which have won him a couple of local dancing awards. It was through dancing that he first earned the nickname Penny. As Papa Penny got on with his dancing career, he was also making music by the side and it was through the latter that he had his first taste of fame in 1994 at the age of 32. It was his debut album Shaka Bundu<\/em> which he recorded making use of primitive musical gears that turned out to be a huge success as about 250,000 copies of the album were sold.<\/p>\n