Lucky Dube was born on this date in 1964. He was a Black South African reggae musician. Lucky Philip Dube was born in Ermelo, then in the Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Sarah. She named him Lucky because she considered his birth fortunate after a number of failed pregnancies. Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Patrick, Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, while his mother relocated to work. Dube worked as a gardener but, realizing that he wasnt earning enough to feed his family, he began to attend school. There he joined a choir and, with some friends, formed his first musical ensemble, called The Skyway Band. While at school he discovered the Rastafari movement. At 18 Dube joined his cousins band, The Love Brothers, playing Zulu pop music known as mbaqanga. The band signed with Teal Record Company, (Teal was later incorporated into Gallo Record Company). While Dube was still attending classes, the band recorded material in Johannesburg during his school breaks. Their debut album was released under the name Lucky Dube and the Supersoul. On the second album, Dube wrote some of the lyrics, sang and also began to learn English. After his fifth Mbaqanga album, he dropped the Supersoul name. At this time Dube’s fans were responding to some reggae songs he played during live concerts. Inspired by Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, he felt the socio-political messages associated with Jamaican reggae were related to a South African audience in an institutionally racist society. In 1984, he released a new musical direction with the mini album Rastas Never Die. The record sold poorly. Keen to suppress anti-apartheid activism, the apartheid regime banned the album in 1985. Not discouraged he continued to perform the reggae tracks live and wrote and produced a second reggae album. Think About The Children (1985). It went platinum and established Dube as a popular reggae artist in South Africa, in addition to attracting global attention. Dube continued to release commercially successful albums. In 1989 he won four OKTV Awards for Prisoner, won another for Captured Live in 1990 and yet another two for House Of Exile in 1991. 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 Motowns acquisition of the label. In 1996 he released a compilation album, Serious Reggae Business, which led to him being named the 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 album, Respect, earned a European release and Dube toured internationally, sharing stages with Sinéad OConnor, Peter Gabriel and Sting. He appeared at the 1991 Reggae Sunsplash and the 2005 Live 8 event in Johannesburg. In addition to music Dube did some acting, appearing in the feature films Voice In The Dark, Getting Lucky and Lucky Strikes Back. On October 18, 2007, Dube was killed in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle’s house. Police reports suggest he was killed by carjackers. Lucky Dube recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25-year period and was one of South Africas biggest selling reggae artist. He is survived by his wife, Zanele, and seven children.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 09:24:16 +0000
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