Biko was born in South Africa in 1946, and he became involved with the multiracial National Union of South African Students at medical school. He said that it was all whites speaking and blacks listening there, so in 1968 he went out and set up the South African Students' Organisation himself, and was elected its first president. This organisation evolved into the Black Consciousness Movement and Biko was elected honorary president of the Black People's Convention in 1972.

I had always been aware of the situation in South Africa, but it hadn't really touched my life personally until 1987 when two things happened that made me become more interested in the situation.

The first was that the movie Cry Freedom came out, and the second was that I went to live in Jackson, Mississippi with Colman Pearse, who was my partner at the time. If we had gone to live somewhere like New York, I probably wouldn't have noticed the situation, but going down to the Deep South meant that I became very aware of the undercurrent that existed between the blacks and the whites, and there were places I was told I couldn't go. This kind of tension is not surprising when you consider that the last lynching only took place in Alabama in 1981.

I was working in Europe a lot but was still aware of what was happening in South Africa and by going to live in Mississippi I became much more aware of the situation, and angered by it. I was in town one day, and there was a meeting happening going on, and I realised it was a Ku Klux Klan meeting. I went to work in Cape Town in 1989, and some of the guys from the opera were from the townships and they were fantastic, but I became aware of the same undercurrents. I went to Soweto and visited the Hector Pieterson museum. He was the young South African boy who was killed at the age of 13 by police for protesting against the enforced speaking of Afrikaans in public schools.

What impressed me about Biko was that he could see South Africa needed a human face and he set about achieving in a very structured, concrete way. I loved the way he encouraged black people to go out and take their power back in a non-violent way, and he wanted them to become selfsufficient and educated in order not to feel inferior. He worked in a very constructive way, setting up clinics, literacy programmes and healthcare, etc . . . things that would benefit the people. Biko said the South African problem was psychological, even though a lot of people probably didn't see it that way and he said "the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed".

That belief really struck a chord with me and I felt it was something you could even take to a very personal level. I think that this quote is something that is still very relevant today, in all walks of life. I can take it to myself in many ways, and I realised that in situations where you are feeling insecure and inferior, the other person can become quite powerful. I'm a great believer in that it is up to me how I react to what people say to me and we are all Mresponsible for what we ultimately do or feel. I think I got a lot of that from Biko because his idea was for people to get out there and set up structures so that they would no longer feel inferior and could become powerful.

Biko was hugely courageous in bucking the system and even when he got into trouble for it, it never stopped him from trying, and I love that in a person. I love people who are courageous and keep battling against the odds. At the height of apartheid, he wasn't allowed to speak to more than one person at a time, was restricted from travelling to certain areas and could not make speeches in public.

Biko played a major role in organising the protests that led to the Soweto riots and he was targetted by the police after that.

He was arrested at a police roadblock in 1977, suffered a major head injury while in police custody and was chained to a window for a full day. He died after being transferred to prison and police claimed he died as a result of an extended hunger strike, but I would imagine there is no doubt about what really happened to him.

There are pictures that show that he was beaten to a pulp, although nobody has ever been charged over it.

Biko was only 31 when he died. His death was reported internationally and there was a demonstration of how brutal the apartheid regime had become. Biko kept battling right until the end of his short life, and he was so courageous and brave. To me, he was second only to Nelson Mandela in breaking down the apartheid system.

Virginia will be performing alongside artistes such as Kathy Nugent and Emmanuel Lawler in Tattersalls in Fairyhouse on 17 November, in aid of the Romania Breadbasket Charity. Tickets are 50, including wine and refreshments, from 087 2754908