Lucky Dube

The South African reggae musician, Lucky Dube, has been shot dead in front of his children in Johannesburg during an attempted car hijacking.
He had been dropping his teenage son and daughter off in the suburb of Rosettenville on Thursday evening. Police say they were already out of the car when three shots were fired through a car window killing their father.

Alongside Bob Marley, he was thought of as one of the great reggae artists – singing about social problems. He was also one of the apartheid regime’s most outspoken critics.

The killing has shocked South Africans who are already accustomed to one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Local radio stations have been flooded with tearful callers expressing outrage at the murder and renewing demands that the authorities act to curtail crime. Some have called on the country’s rugby team to show some form of respect when they take to the field in Saturday’s World Cup final against England in Paris.

Earlier this year, Mr Dube told the BBC that his parents named him Lucky after the death of an earlier child. “When I was born I was sick so they thought I was going to die so they didn’t give me a name till I was six months or so… They waited for me to die, but when I didn’t die they said, ‘Wow, he’s a very lucky boy!’ So they called me Lucky,” he said.
He began his career by singing mbaqanga (traditional Zulu) music and recorded his first album with the Super Soul band in 1982.
He later moved into reggae, producing Rastas Never Die which was banned by the apartheid government.
His albums “Slave”, “Prisoner” and “Together As One” saw him gain first national, and then global, recognition.

Three years ago his 1989 anti-apartheid hit “Together as One”, which calls for world peace and harmony, was recently voted one of Africa’s top 10 songs by BBC readers and listeners.
Lucky Dube has released over 20 albums in his career! His most recent album, “Respect”, came out in April.

Here are a couple of Lucky Dube’s videos:

Lucky Dube- “I wanna know what love is” – mytrace