Black, Pauline

1953-

Also known as Belinda Magnus
British singer, novelist, and broadcaster

Black's birth mother was a teenage secretary, Jewish, and her father was a Nigerian prince, Oladosu Adenle. She was born Belinda Magnus and because her parents were unmarried her mother was forced to relinquish her for adoption to a white couple in Essex, who "weren't keen on Black people." She did not learn she was adopted until she was nine.

She became a singer with the two tone band The Selecter in the late 1970s.

When she decided to trace her birth parents in 1996 she found that her mother was living in Australia, her father was dead, and she was the eldest of 17 children. She has met her mother and her father's second wife, and found that her grandfather was King Samuel Adenle I of Oshogbo, who reputedly had 10 wives and 100 children.

References

Matthews, Dave. "My Secret Mother," The Big Issue, 3-9 November 1997, p. 20
Goertz, Mea Ann. "Three Cheers for Selecter's Lead." Available at: http://www.star.so.swt.edu/95/11/01/ent1.html