Lucky Philip Dube was a South African reggae musician and Rastafarian. He recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25-year period and was South Africa's biggest-selling reggae artist. Dube was murdered in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville on the evening of 18 October 2007.
Background
Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga, on 3 August 1964. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother who gave him the name Lucky because she considered his birth fortunate after many miscarriages. Dube had two siblings, Thandi and Patrick. The three of them spent much of their childhood with their grandmother, Sarah, while their mother relocated to work. Dube described his grandmother as his greatest love in an interview in 1999. According to him, his grandmother made him the responsible person he was.
Education
Lucky Dube started to work in the gardens of White people at an age when most other children enter school. He worked for a few years before joining school with the intention to earn more money to support his family. He excelled at school and found his great love in life – music. He was part of the choir and soon became choir leader, a role in which he was so successful that his choir was placed third in an inter-school competition – a first in the history of the choir. Lucky now found school a safe haven and his popularity among his teachers and fellow learners soared. While at school he discovered the Rastafari movement. Though he did not consider himself a Rasta in the traditional sense, his dreadlocks and espousal of Jah (God) lent him the air of a Rastafarian.
Career
Luck Dube's growing interest for music started while he was in school. Lucky found some musical instruments by chance in a school cupboard one day and he and some friends formed his first musical ensemble, The Skyway Band. This was cut short when a teacher discovered their activities and locked the instruments away.
In 1982, while still at school, Lucky joined his cousin Richard Siluma’s band called The Love Brothers, playing traditional Zulu music known as Mbaqanga. Lucky's first album, recorded in Johannesburg during school holidays with The Love Brothers, was released as "Lucky Dube and The Supersoul." He was the lead singer but did not write any of the material. Around this time he began to learn English, having started his schooling in Afrikaans.
His second and third albums, in which he was more involved with lyric writing, soon followed. The sales figures were beginning to hit gold status and people had begun to notice him. Because of his mother’s concern about the uncertainty of a musical career, Lucky swore to complete school. After release of his fourth album, he was beginning to make real money. Around the time of his fifth Mbaqanga album, Lucky met Dave Segal who was to become his long-time engineer, recording every one of Lucky's albums in the future. They developed a very successful working relationship.
As the crowds loved his reggae tracks Reggae Man and City Life, which he introduced into his performances, the two decided to record a full album of reggae songs and judge the response to that. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, they felt the socio-political messages associated with Jamaican reggae were relevant to the institutionally racist society in South Africa.
That set the future course of Lucky’s career. His reggae lyrics were social messages aimed at the struggle of the Black man, whilst still maintaining a commercial sound. His first reggae mini-album Rastas Never Die, appearing in 1986, was a complete financial failure. It was not as popular with the audiences and, in addition, the South African government, fearing apartheid activism, banned the album. That did not deter him, however, and he slowly included more and more reggae tracks into his live performances. As time passed, the audiences liked it increasingly and he became associated with this new sound. Lucky’s second album, Think About the Children, reached platinum status in South Africa and established him as one of the country’s biggest stars.
Lucky continued to release commercially successful albums. In 1989 he won four OKTV Awards for Prisoner, won another for Captured Live the next year and another two for House of Exile in 1991. He appeared at the 1991 Reggae Sunsplash, where he was invited back on stage for a twenty-five minute long encore. His 1993 album, Victims sold over one million copies worldwide. In 1995 he earned a worldwide recording contract with Motown. His album Trinity was the first release on Tabu Records after Motown's acquisition of the label. Serious Reggae Business, a compilation album released in 1996, won him the title of “Best Selling African Recording Artist" at the World Music Awards and the "International Artist Of The Year" at the Ghana Music Awards. His next three albums each won South African Music Awards. His most recent album, Respect, earned a European release through a deal with Warner Music. Lucky shared international stages with artists such as Sinéad O'Connor, Peter Gabriel and Sting. He also performed in the 2005 Live 8 event in Johannesburg. With an astounding twenty-one albums to his name, he earned over twenty awards for his musical contributions - both in South Africa and internationally.
Achievements
His album, Think About The Children achieved platinum sales status and established Dube as a popular reggae artist in South Africa, in addition to attracting attention outside his homeland
(album: "Prisoner" (1989)
War And Crime
Prisoner
False ...)
1989
Religion
Though while at school he discovered the Rastafari movement, but he did not consider himself a Rasta in the traditional sense, his dreadlocks and espousal of Jah (God) lent him the air of a Rastafarian.
Politics
His political are clearly seen in his songs. In most of his songs, he sang about the government, and how the Blacks are racially discriminated by Whites in South Africa.
Views
Quotations:
"Liar, liar, your pants are on fire, you've got a nose as long as a telephone wire, i swear to tell the truth. Nothing but the truth. So help me God."
"I cross my heart and hope to die, These are the words we use to get out of situations."
"Then i wonder why they don't mean what we say, then i remembered the terrible truth. If you stand for the truth you will always stand alone."
"The holy book tells us the truth will set us free, but in this world I know different."
"Do you believe in the truth? Do you believe in righteousness? Do you believe in innocent till proven guilty?."
"It started like a joke i never thought it would come to this, Today I'm walking in the bushes, like a criminal."
"Today I'm walking so slow, like a predator, just to get a glimpse of you as you play in the ground."
"She wanted to be like her mother in many ways. The way she walks, the way she smiles, over and above all."
"The way she brushes her hair back, she heard it all being said to her, saw it happening in her life."
"Like every woman she's been trapped in her fairy tale, find a frog, kiss it, and hope it would turn into a handsome prince."
"How many frogs has she kissed in her life? None of them turned into a handsome prince."
"Everything went they way she wanted, Every dream was what she wanted but when it came to finding someone spend her life with, same old story."
"Better to be alone and be happy than being with someone and be unhappy all your life."
"Build this well around himself many years ago to protect himself from being hurt again but he couldn't stop his feelings last night when he saw the young lady in the bar with the blonde hair."
"Blue eyes waited till the hand played the last song then he took her home, his mother didn't like her the only thing that kept them going was knowing that love will conquer all."
"They run away to another country cos they though things would be better for them up there in the month of December they got married in Chicago and it was all the same everywhere, they went heads will turn."
"Somebody told me about it when i was still a little boy, he said to me crime does not pay, he said to me, education is the key."
Personality
He was a humble man with a down-to-earth approach and superb musical taste and genius - an artist with a message, with a reason and a rhyme behind everything he did and in touch with his audience.
Physical Characteristics:
He is Black, with dreadlocks on his head.
Connections
He was married, and had seven children.
Grand-Mother:
Sarah
sibling:
Thandi
sibling:
Patrick
Wife:
Zanele
Son and Daughter:
Nkulee Dube, Thokozani Dube
colleague:
Richard
References
Walking A Mile In Your Shoes: My Spiritual Journey With Lucky Dube
Walking a Mile in Your Shoes My Spiritual Journey with Lucky Dube is Lenah Mochoele’s tribute to her friend and spiritual mentor. Through her book 'Walking a mile in your Shoes' Lenah Mochoele gives an account, a spiritual journey of South African born world famous reggae star and hit maker Lucky Dube.
