Lucky Dube
Encyclopedia
Lucky Philip Dube (August 3, 1964 – October 18, 2007) was a South Africa
n reggae
musician. 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.
, formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga
, on August 3, 1964. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Sarah, who named him 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. It was from there that he was introduced to the Mormon religion. In a 1999 interview he described his grandmother as "his greatest love" who "multiplied many things to bring up this responsible individual that I am today."
, called The Skyway Band. While at school he discovered the Rastafari movement
. At the age of 18 Dube joined his cousin's band, The Love Brothers, playing Zulu
pop music
known as mbaqanga
whilst funding his lifestyle by working for Hole and Cooke as a security guard at the car auctions in Midrand. The band signed with Teal Record Company, under Richard Siluma (Teal was later incorporated into Gallo Record Company
). Though Dube was still at school, the band recorded material in Johannesburg during his school holidays. The resultant album was released under the name Lucky Dube and the Supersoul. The second album was released soon afterwards, and this time Dube wrote some of the lyrics in addition to singing. It was around this same time when he began to learn English.
and Peter Tosh
, he felt the socio-political messages associated with Jamaican reggae were relevant to a South African audience in an institutionally racist
society.
He decided to try the new musical genre and in 1984, released the mini album Rastas Never Die. The record sold poorly - around 4000 units - in comparison to the 30,000 units his mbaqanga records would sell. Keen to suppress anti-apartheid activism, the apartheid regime banned the album in 1985. However, he was not discouraged and continued to perform the reggae tracks live and wrote and produced a second reggae album. Think About The Children (1985). It achieved platinum sales status
and established Dube as a popular reggae artist in South Africa, in addition to attracting attention outside his homeland.
. His album Trinity was the first release on Tabu Records
after Motown's 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 most recent album, Respect, earned a European release through a deal with Warner Music. Dube toured internationally, sharing stages with artists such as Sinéad O'Connor
, Peter Gabriel
and Sting. He appeared at the 1991 Reggae Sunsplash
(uniquely that year, was invited back on stage for a 25 minute long encore) and the 2005 Live 8
event in Johannesburg.
In addition to performing music Dube was a sometime actor, appearing in the feature films Voice In The Dark, Getting Lucky and Lucky Strikes Back.
in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle's house. Dube was driving his Chrysler 300C
which the assailants were apparently after. Five men were arrested in connection with the murder. Three were tried and found guilty on March 31, 2009; two of them attempted to escape and were caught. The men were sentenced to life in prison.
released a compilation album entitled Retrospective, which featured many of Dube's most influential songs as well as previously unreleased tracks in the United States
. The album celebrated Dube's music and honored the contributions he made to South Africa
.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musician. He recorded 22 albums in Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
in a 25-year period and was South Africa's biggest selling reggae artist. Dube was murdered in the Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
suburb of Rosettenville on the evening of 18 October 2007.
Early life
Lucky Dube was born in ErmeloErmelo, Mpumalanga
Ermelo is the educational, industrial and commercial centre of the 7,750 km² Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga province, Republic of South Africa. Mixed farming and anthracite, coal and torbanite mining take place here...
, formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
, on August 3, 1964. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Sarah, who named him 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. It was from there that he was introduced to the Mormon religion. In a 1999 interview he described his grandmother as "his greatest love" who "multiplied many things to bring up this responsible individual that I am today."
Beginning of his musical career
As a child Dube worked as a gardener but, as he matured, realizing that he wasn't earning enough to feed his family, he began to attend school. There he joined a choir and, with some friends, formed his first musical ensembleMusical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, called The Skyway Band. While at school he discovered the Rastafari movement
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
. At the age of 18 Dube joined his cousin's band, The Love Brothers, playing Zulu
Zulu music
The Zulu are a South African ethnic group. Many Zulu musicians have become a major part of South African music. A number of Zulu-folk derived styles have also become well-known across South Africa and abroad.-Mbube and Isicathamiya:...
pop music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
known as mbaqanga
Mbaqanga
Mbaqanga is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style originated in the early 1960s.-History:...
whilst funding his lifestyle by working for Hole and Cooke as a security guard at the car auctions in Midrand. The band signed with Teal Record Company, under Richard Siluma (Teal was later incorporated into Gallo Record Company
Gallo Record Company
Gallo Record Company is the largest record label in Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is owned by Avusa Limited . The current Gallo Record Company is a hybrid of two rival South African record labels between the '40s and '80s: the original Gallo Africa and G.R.C...
). Though Dube was still at school, the band recorded material in Johannesburg during his school holidays. The resultant album was released under the name Lucky Dube and the Supersoul. The second album was released soon afterwards, and this time Dube wrote some of the lyrics in addition to singing. It was around this same time when he began to learn English.
Moving into reggae
On the release of his fifth Mbaqanga album, Dave Segal (who became Dube's sound engineer) encouraged him to drop the "Supersoul" element of the name. All subsequent albums were recorded as Lucky Dube. At this time Dube began to note fans were responding positively to some reggae songs he played during live concerts. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy CliffJimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...
and Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...
, he felt the socio-political messages associated with Jamaican reggae were relevant to a South African audience in an institutionally racist
Institutional racism
Institutional racism describes any kind of system of inequality based on race. It can occur in institutions such as public government bodies, private business corporations , and universities . The term was coined by Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael in the late 1960s...
society.
He decided to try the new musical genre and in 1984, released the mini album Rastas Never Die. The record sold poorly - around 4000 units - in comparison to the 30,000 units his mbaqanga records would sell. Keen to suppress anti-apartheid activism, the apartheid regime banned the album in 1985. However, he was not discouraged and continued to perform the reggae tracks live and wrote and produced a second reggae album. Think About The Children (1985). It achieved platinum sales status
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
and established Dube as a popular reggae artist in South Africa, in addition to attracting attention outside his homeland.
Commercial and critical success
Dube continued to release commercially successful albums. In 1989 he won four OKTV Awards for Prisoner, won another for Captured Live the following year and yet another two for House Of Exile the year after. His 1993 album, Victims sold over one million copies worldwide. In 1995 he earned a worldwide recording contract with MotownMotown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
. His album Trinity was the first release on Tabu Records
Tabu Records
Tabu Productions was an American record label founded by Clarence Avant in 1975. The label focused on R&B and funk.-Founding:Avant founded the label after Sussex Records went out of business in June 1975. Tabu's flagship release, “Stormin'” by Brainstorm, was released in 1977...
after Motown's acquisition of the label.
In 1996 he released a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Serious Reggae Business, which led to him being named the "Best Selling African Recording Artist" at the World Music Awards
World Music Awards
The World Music Awards is an international awards show founded in 1989 that annually honors recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry . John Martinotti is an executive producer and co-founder of the show...
and the "International Artist Of The Year" at the Ghana Music Awards. His next three albums each won South African Music Awards
South African Music Awards
The South African Music Awards are an annual award ceremony, run by the Recording Industry of South Africa , where accolades are presented to members of South Africa's music industry. Winners receive a statuette is called a SAMA. The event was established in 1995...
. His most recent album, Respect, earned a European release through a deal with Warner Music. Dube toured internationally, sharing stages with artists such as Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
and Sting. He appeared at the 1991 Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival...
(uniquely that year, was invited back on stage for a 25 minute long encore) and the 2005 Live 8
Live 8 concert, Johannesburg
On 2 July 2005, a Live 8 concert was held at Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa.The event is also referred to as "Live 8 Johannesburg", "Live 8 Jo'burg", and "Live 8 South Africa"....
event in Johannesburg.
In addition to performing music Dube was a sometime actor, appearing in the feature films Voice In The Dark, Getting Lucky and Lucky Strikes Back.
Death
On October 18, 2007, Lucky Dube was killed by suspected carjackersCarjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...
in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle's house. Dube was driving his Chrysler 300C
Chrysler 300C
The Chrysler Corporation has used the designation Chrysler 300C to refer to two different vehicles, which are described in separate articles.* The 1957 Chrysler 300C, that year's version of the Chrysler 300 "letter series"; a large, high-performance luxury coupe sold in very limited numbers.* The...
which the assailants were apparently after. Five men were arrested in connection with the murder. Three were tried and found guilty on March 31, 2009; two of them attempted to escape and were caught. The men were sentenced to life in prison.
Legacy
On October 21, 2008, RykodiscRykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
released a compilation album entitled Retrospective, which featured many of Dube's most influential songs as well as previously unreleased tracks in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The album celebrated Dube's music and honored the contributions he made to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Mbaqanga
- Lengane Ngeyethu (1981)
- Kudala Ngikuncenga (1982)
- Kukuwe (1983)
- Abathakathi (1984)
- Ngikwethembe Na? (1985)
- Umadakeni (1987)
Reggae
- Rastas Never Die (1984)
- Think About The Children (1985)
- Slave (1987)
- Together As One (1988)
- Prisoner (1989)
- Captured Live (1990)
- House of Exile (1991)
- Victims (1993)
- Trinity (1995)
- Serious Reggae Business (1996)
- Tax man (1997)
- The Way It Is (1999)
- The Rough Guide To Lucky Dube (compilation) (2001)
- Soul Taker (2001)
- The Other Side (2003)
- Respect (2006)
Further reading
- Afropop! An Illustrated Guide to Contemporary African Music by Sean Barlow & Banning Eyre. (Book Sales August 1995) ISBN 0785804439, ISBN 978-0785804437