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Lucky
was born on 3rd August,1964, in Ermelo, Eastern Transvaal,
South Africa.
At the age of 9 Lucky was chosen as library assistant at his
school. His desire to learn about the rest of the world and
South Africa's controversial history had him immediately
immersed in the world of literature.It was here that he
became acquainted with the Rastafarian religion, discovering
it in an Encyclopedia. He also read about the music which is
synonymous with Rastafarianism - REGGAE. His interest grew
the more he read and found out, and soon he was working and
earning enough money to buy Peter Tosh albums (which were
the only Reggae albums available in South Africa at the
time). Whilst he was at school he founded his first band -
THE SKYWAY BAND - and raised enough money to buy his first
guitar from a stage play he produced. His talents soon came
to the attention of Richard Siluma, who was a distant
relative and a record producer, and it was clearly evident
to Richard that Lucky had a huge talent and a wonderful
potential as a mbaqanga singer.
In 1979 Lucky launched his career as a mbaqanga singer and
along with future slave members Thutukani Cele and Chris
Dlamini recorded an album in 1982 as a member of the band
THE LOVE BROTHERS entitled MBAQANGA. In the next 3 years
Lucky went on to release his debut solo album entitled
LENGANE NGEYETHA which spawned his first hit single and went
gold. His next album KUKUWE also went gold. He subsequently
released another two Zulu traditional albums.
During 1985 and without the knowledge of his record company,
Teal Records, Lucky and Richard went into the studio and
recorded "Rastas Never Die" - the first ever reggae album to
be recorded in South Africa.Because of the political
situation and censorship in the government controlled media
it did not reach the airwaves and was banned immediately.
The album gained awareness but did not sell well. Record
company executives demanded a return back to traditional
Zulu pop music. Lucky featured in his first movie - Getting
Lucky - and was involved in producing the soundtrack. In
1986 Lucky's second reggae album was released through GRC
and entitled - THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN.
Richard and Lucky also recorded an album under the name of 'Oom
Hansie' which was a Afrikaans/Zulu rap album and entitled
'Help My Krap'.
The beginnings of his first backing band were also now being
formed. In 1987 Lucky's third reggae album was released
entitled - SLAVE - and he had huge hits with "I've Got You
Babe ", "Slave" , and " Back To My Roots". With his backing
band The Slaves, he performed at huge shows in Johannesburg,
pulling crowds in excess of 50,000.
In 1988 due to popular demand, GRC re-released RASTAS NEVER
DIE.Lucky embarked on his first international trip to
promote the album SLAVE, which was now released on the
Celluloid label in France. In 1988 TOGETHER AS ONE was
released and featured the hit title track which was once
again based on the South African situation. He asked all
South Africans to unite. Black and white.
Lucky hit the road again and performed to crowds in excess
of 65,000.
In 1989 sixty of South Africa's top musicians, including
Lucky, embarked on a series of shows in France under the
banner of Franchment Zoulou tour. Lucky established himself
as a truely international artist, and got rave reviews at
every show. He continued on to tour the US.
This year also gave Lucky the chance to act in his first
full length feature film entitled 'Voice In The Dark', in
which he co-starred with John Savage.
1989 also saw the release of PRISONER and within 5 days it
had hit double platinum.
1990 was a year to take stock and perform mainly in Africa,
performing in venues ranging from small township halls to
Ellis Park, at which 80,000 people went to see Lucky
perform.
In 1991 Lucky toured the United States again and then made
an historical appearance at the world famous reggae
Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica - the first time ever for a
South African artist and his long awaited dream was
realised. He was the first and only artist to be invited
back for a 25 minute encore. The tour carried on to
Australia, Japan and Ghana.
PRISONER became his biggest selling album, with in excess of
1,000,000 copies sold worldwide.
The electrifying double live album CAPTURED LIVE was
released featuring some of his best known songs with live
arrangements. The album quickly reached platinum status and
outsold any international music release sales on a live
album.
Lucky wons BEST MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR at the annual OKTV
awards in South Africa.
HOUSE OF EXILE was released and Lucky headlined the first
ever reggae festival in South Africa - REGGAE STRONG FOR
PEACE - and the proceeds of the live album, with the title
track written by him, went to a crisis line in Soweto. The
REGGAE STRONG FOR PEACE album went gold and a live video was
released.
LUCKY DUBE WAS SHOT TO DEATH IN JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA ON THE 19TH OCTOBER 2007, APPARENTLY VICTIM OF A CAR JACKING, WHILE DRIVING HIS 2 CHILDREN
THIS IS A GREAT LOSS FOR AFRICAN REGGAE AND FOR REGGAE WORLDWIDE, LUCKY DUBE IS NOW PART OF THE LEGEND OF REGGAE VERSUS HUMAN DEGENERATION
http://www.luckydube.net/biography.html
Copyright © 2001 Lucky Dube. All rights reserved.
Revised: July 04, 2001
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