Lucky Dube

Lucky Philip Dube (pronounced duu-beh; 3 August 1964 – 18 October 2007) was a South African reggae musician and Rastafarian. His record sales across the world earned him the Best Selling African Musician prize at the 1996 World Music Awards. In his lyrics, Dube discussed issues affecting South Africans and Africans in general to a global audience. He recorded 22 albums in a 25-year period and was Africa's best-selling reggae artist of all time. Dube was murdered in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville on the evening of 18 October 2007.

Biography Early life Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), on 3 August 1964. His parents separated before his birth, and he was raised by his mother, who named him "Lucky" because she considered his birth fortunate after a number of failed pregnancies. Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Mandla, Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, Sarah, while his mother relocated to work. 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".

Musical beginnings Dube worked as a gardener in his younger years but later decided to go to school in order to improve his economic prospects. There, he joined a choir and with some friends, formed his first musical ensemble, the Skyway Band.

Reggae On the release of his fifth 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. Around this time, the singer noticed that fans were responding positively to some reggae songs he played during concerts. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, Dube was not discouraged, however, and continued to perform the reggae tracks live and wrote and produced a second reggae album, Think About the Children, in 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 1993 album, Victims, sold over one million copies worldwide.

Dube took reggae music and used it as a platform to promote racial equality within South Africa during apartheid. He used the musical genre to frame his arguments about colonialism and the African slave trade, and how he felt that Africa should be reclaimed by the black race.

Death On 18 October 2007, Lucky Dube was killed by armed robbers in Rosettenville, a Johannesburg suburb, shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle's house. Dube was driving his Chrysler 300C, which the assailants were after. Police reports suggest he was shot dead by carjackers who did not recognise him; a state witness additionally claimed that he was targeted under the false notion that he was Nigerian. Five men were arrested in connection with the murder; three were tried and found guilty on 31 March 2009. Two of the men attempted to escape and were caught. Dube's convicted killers were sentenced to life in prison.

Legacy On 21 October 2008, Rykodisc released a compilation album entitled Retrospective, which featured many of Dube's most influential songs as well as tracks previously not released in the United States. The album celebrated Dube's music and honored the contributions he made to South Africa. The Roots Reggae Library has taken steps to store digital versions of the artist's mbaqanga albums made in the 1980s. Five of the six albums have been retrieved; Ngikwethembe Na has yet to be found.

As one of the first artists to bring African reggae to the mainstream, Dube bridged cultural gaps within the African diaspora. What his music did was "[present] a praxis of cross-culturality and visionary possibility". Dube gave Africa a voice and put its culture on the global stage by joining the global reggae community. Through taking Jamaican music back to its roots, he recontextualized the oppression and political struggles that reggae seeps itself in, bringing the basis of the diaspora back in conversation with the diaspora at large to allow for a more pan-African form of cultural expression. Dube's roots reggae brought African people to the table in terms of conversation about the black diaspora by mimicking Caribbean artists' assertions of African authenticity.

In Australia, Dube's music has found resonance in remote Aboriginal communities, and his popularity has led him to be called "Bigger than the Beatles" throughout much of central and northern Australia.

In August 2026, the Mpumalanga Department of Education opened the Lucky Dube Secondary School of Performing Arts for the community of Ermelo.

Discography

Mbaqanga Lengane Ngeyethu (1981) Kudala Ngikuncenga (1982) Kukuwe (1983) Abathakathi (1984) Ngikwethembe Na? (1985) Umadakeni (1987)

with Oom Hansie Die Kaapse Dans (1986) Help My Krap (EP, 1986)

Reggae Rastas Never Die (EP, 1984) Remember Me (1994) Think About the Children (1985) Slave (1987) Together as One (1988) Prisoner (1989) Captured Live (1990) House of Exile (1991) Victims (1993) Trinity (1995) Taxman (1997) The Way It Is (1999) Soul Taker (2001) The Other Side (2003) Respect (2006)

Compilations Serious Reggae Business (1996) Live in Jamaica (2000) The Rough Guide to Lucky Dube (2001) Lucky Dube Live in Uganda (2003) Retrospective (2008) The Ultimate Lucky Dube (2011) The Times We've Shared (2017)

Filmography Getting Lucky (1985) Lucky Strikes Back (1987) Voice in the Dark (1990)