10/21/2019 – Doja Cat – Tidal’s 5th Annual TIDAL X Benefit Concert – Arrivals – Barclays Center – New York City, NY, USA -Photo Credit: PZ New York City Photography / PRPhotos.com
Birth Name: Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: October 21, 1995
Ethnicity:
*father – Zulu South African
*mother – Ashkenazi Jewish, possibly other
Doja Cat is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her songs include “So High,” “Mooo!,” “Juicy,” “Say So,” “Like That,” “Streets,” “Kiss Me More,” “You Right,” “Need to Know,” “Woman,” “Freaky Deaky,” “Get Into It (Yuh),” “Vegas,” “Attention,” and “Paint the Town Red.” She is known for her eccentric stage and internet persona. Her music videos and songs are popular on TikTok along with other social media.
Her middle name, Zandile (zuh-ndee-lè), is a Zulu name meaning “they have multiplied.” Her father, Dumisani Dlamini (Dumisani Wiseman Dlamini), is a black South African actor, composer, dancer, and film producer. He is from Durban, and is of Zulu background. He co-starred in the film Sarafina! (1992).
Her mother, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, is a white American graphic designer. She was known as Ishwari while she lived in a Hindu ashram.
Doja Cat has said:
I’m Jewish, my grandma’s Jewish, she’s white, and she was never exposed to music like that until she started meeting people and was like, wow I really love this. Once she had me, she would play a lot of Erykah Badu, a lot of Fugees, and Jamiroquai and Seal, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Alice Coltrane, a lot of stuff like that…
It is not clear if Doja Cat’s maternal grandfather is Jewish, as well.
Doja Cat was raised partly in Rye, New York, and then in Oak Park, California. Her maternal grandmother, Harriet Sawyer, is a painter and architect.
Doja’s maternal grandmother was born Harriet Diamond (the daughter of Morris Diamond and Jean/Jennie Berkowitz). Morris was born in New York, the son of Philip Diamond and Lillian/Lena Burk/Bank, who were Austrian Jewish immigrants. Jean was born in New York, to Romanian Jewish parents, Herman Berkowitz/Bercowitz, from Hertz, and Pauline Siegel.
Sources: https://www.27east.com
Death records of Doja’s maternal great-grandparents, Morris Diamond and Jean/Jennie (Berkowitz) Diamond – https://www.findagrave.com
Doja’s maternal great-grandfather, Morris Diamond, on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Doja’s maternal great-grandmother, Jean/Jennie Berkowitz, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Obituary of Doja’s maternal great-grandmother, Jean/Jennie (Berkowitz) Diamond Caris – https://www.legacy.com
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