Although critics dismissed his music as simplistic, his brand of reggae appealed to many because it was easy to assimilate. Most of the songs he wrote were not the boy-meets-girl type that assails our ears these days. We identified with his music not because it was sweet, but because his songs were often loaded with a lot of commons sense lyrics.
He called it music with a message. It did not only reach reggae audience but appealed to a large and varied audience worldwide. Lucky Dube was the most talented African Reggae artiste, and arguably one of the best live performers in the world.
His concerts were electrifying. Every performance swept fans off their feet. He is one of the few artistes who could transfer the live feel of his music onto the stage.
His backing band, called the Slaves, made up of various talented and disciplined musicians. If one of them dared come late for a show, Lucky Dube would kick him out. His shows were very tight.
It explains why we seemed not to get enough of him, despite the fact that the hits seemed to have somewhat dried up. For that very reason, singer and promoter Geoffrey Lutaaya of the Eagles Production was planning to bring Lucky Dube for the fifth time to Uganda on Easter 2008. Lucky Dube was born on August 3, 1964 in Ermelo, Eastern Transvaal, South Africa.
At the age of 9, he 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 into 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. In 1979 Lucky launched his career as a mbaqanga singer. Along with future Slave members Thutukani Cele and Chris Dlamini he recorded an album in 1982, entitled Mbaqanga.
In the next three years Lucky went on to release his debut solo album, entitled Lengane Ngeyetha, which spawned his first hit. 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, 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 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, his second reggae album, entitled Think about the Children.
Richard and Lucky also recorded an album under the name of Oom Hansie which was an Afrikaans/Zulu rap album and entitled Help My Krap . The beginning of the Slaves Band was 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 band, he pulled crowds of over 50,000 in Johannesburg. 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, in which he asked all South Africans, black and white, to unite.
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