Solomon Linda from Zululand composed an ethnic song called Mbube (meaning lion). Gallo Records released a record of it. Gallo took assignment of the worldwide copyright for a pittance. In the 1950s the record made its way to the USA. A famous folk-singer reworked the song and made it into a hit song called Wimoweh. A decade later Mbube was further reworked into mega hit-song called The Lion Sleeps Tonight ("LST"). In the 1990s LST was incorporated into Walt Disney's stage show and movie The Lion King. In particular, Mbube's incarnation as LST, made countless millions of US dollars. Solomon Linda and, after his death in 1962, his heirs, saw none of this money and existed in penury.
