![]() ![]() The band signed with Teal Record Company, under Richard Siluma (Teal was later incorporated into Gallo Record Company). 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. While at school he discovered the Rastafari movement. There he joined a choir and with some friends, formed his first musical ensemble, called The Skyway Band. 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."Īs 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. 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 Patrick, Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, Sarah, while his mother relocated to work. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga, on 3 August 1964. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. ![]() Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. But the South African reggae artist got no respect from his killers.Ĭopyright © 2007 NPR. He said that's what the world needs most right now. QUIST-ARCTON: "Respect" was the title of the last of Lucky Dube's 22 albums. DUBE: (Singing) Show me, show me, show me respect. DUBE: (Singing) I can sing from a respect. DUBE: (Singing) Come on, show me respect. You cannot love a person if you don't respect them. We talked about one love, but we forgot to talk about respect. DUBE: In the past, we've talked about togetherness. But Lucky Dube's music and this message live on. QUIST-ARCTON: Africa has indeed been robbed of a reggae giant. ![]() THEMBINKOSI NCIZA (Music Producer, TS Records): The whole continent have lost a performer, a musician, a guy that fought for freedom in his own way, in his own right, was just shot by some guy who wanted to take his car. Music producer Thembinkosi Nciza who toured with Lucky Dube says his friend's murder was tragic. ![]() Now, it's high crime that South Africans are fighting against in a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world. He said he felt reggae's universal appeal matched his message and his opposition to apartheid. QUIST-ARCTON: Lucky Dube started off singing traditional Zulu mbaqanga music but switched to reggae in the late 1980s. So you can imagine what artists were going through. In fact, when Lucky became a professional musician, South African politics was at its most violent and most vile. PETER MAKURUBE (Music Critic, South Africa): Very strong, very determined, never-give-up kind of artist because he was looking under very difficult conditions. South African music critic Peter Makurube remembers Lucky Dube in the early years before stardom. They regret there will be no new songs with Dube's trademark strong social commentary. Radio stations in South Africa and all over Africa have been inundated with calls from tearful fans expressing sorrow and outrage. Lucky Dube was attacked and shot by carjacking suspects. QUIST-ARCTON: But that luck ran out on Thursday night on the streets of Rosettenville in suburban Johannesburg. Then when I didn't die, they said, wow, he's a very lucky boy, and they called me Lucky. LUCKY DUBE (Reggae Singer): When I was born, I was sick so they thought I'm going to die. And Lucky Dube often repeated the tale of how he got his name. He grew up poor and was brought up by his mother. Though South African, Dube had a huge and loyal following around the continent and beyond. OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON: With his long rusted dreadlocks shaking in the wind, 43-year-old Lucky Dube was a captivating reggae performer on stage. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton looks back on the life of Lucky Dube. Dube's murder has again raised concern about the high rate of violent crime in South Africa. The crime was apparently witnessed by his teenage daughter and son. He was shot and killed on Thursday in Johannesburg. Across Africa, shocked fans are mourning the death of South African reggae star Lucky Dube. ![]()
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