African Celebrities: Lucky Dube

Lucky Philip Dube was a South African reggae musician and Rastafarian. He was born on 3rd of August 1964 in Ermelo, Transvaal, now Mpumalanga, South Africa. His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Sarah, who named him Lucky because she considered his birth fortunate after a number of failed pregnancies. Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Patrick, Lucky Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, while his mother relocated to work.

Lucky Dube recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans and was South Africa's biggest-selling reggae artist.

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 Motown. On 18 October 2007, Lucky Dubne was killed in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle's house.