The Rough Guide to Lucky Dube

Biography

Lucky Dube, ⋆ 3 Aug 1964 in Eastern Transvaal, South Africa; ₫ 18 Oct 2007 in Rosettenville, Johannesburg Gauteng (murdered), was South Africa's top reggae artist. He started with local popular music as mbaqanga. He switched to reggae in 1983. He was by then Rastafarian. He played roots reggae, but also love songs like 'I've Got You Babe'. His compilation album Serious Reggae Business 1996 entitled him "Best Selling African Recording Artist" at World Music Awards and "International Artist of the...

Lucky Dube, ⋆ 3 Aug 1964 in Eastern Transvaal, South Africa; ₫ 18 Oct 2007 in Rosettenville, Johannesburg Gauteng (murdered), was South Africa's top reggae artist. He started with local popular music as mbaqanga. He switched to reggae in 1983. He was by then Rastafarian. He played roots reggae, but also love songs like 'I've Got You Babe'. His compilation album Serious Reggae Business 1996 entitled him "Best Selling African Recording Artist" at World Music Awards and "International Artist of the Year" at the Ghana Music Awards. He didn't agree with Roots Reggae's romanticizing of the utopian homeland Africa. stating that for many Africans America and Europe is Utopia as is the song 'The Other Side'.

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Lucky Dube (born August 3, 1964, died October 18, 2007) was a reggae musician from Johannesburg, South Africa. He was named Lucky because when he was born in poor health, and the doctors thought he would die. But he survived, so was named Lucky. In his youth, Lucky lived with many different family members, singing in bars and in church. He eventually formed a band with some friends, but they could not afford to purchase instruments. Eventually, Lucky wrote a play which he and his bandmates performed, earning enough money to buy a guitar. Their band was then called Skyway, and they played in the mbaqanga style.

Two years after Skyway's formation, Lucky joined Richard Siluma's Love Brothers. He stayed with them for several years, before switching to reggae in the early 1980s. His first major success in that field came at the influential Sunsplash festival in Jamaica.

Lucky's "Together as One" was the first song by a black artist to be played on a white radio station in South Africa. His two most popular albums, Prisoner and Slave, are among the most renowned and best-selling in South Africa's history. One of Lucky's favourite singers was the late Peter Tosh.

On the 18th of October 2007, Lucky was shot dead in an attempted car jacking in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Discography

Rastas Never Dies

Think About The Children

(The Above Two available on 2on1 - Lucky Dube Rastas Never Dies/Think About The Children (2000))

Slave (1989)

Prisoner (1990)

Together as one (1992)

House of exile (1992)

Captured Live (1993)

Victims (1993)

Trinity (1995)

Serious reggae business (1996)

Taxman (1997)

The Way It Is (1999)

The Rough Guide To Lucky Dube (2001)

Soul Taker (2001)

The other side (2005)

Respect (2006) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.