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'. Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Mandla, Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, Sarah, while his mother relocated to work. 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.
Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), on 3 August 1964. Dube was murdered in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville on the evening of 18 October 2007. He recorded 22 albums in a 25-year period and was Africa's best-selling reggae artist of all time. In his lyrics, Dube discussed issues affecting South Africans and Africans in general to a global audience.
His record sales across the world earned him the Best Selling African Musician prize at the 1996 World Music Awards. Lucky Philip Dube (pronounced duu-beh 3 August 1964 – 18 October 2007) was a South African reggae musician and Rastafarian.
