He was given the name Lucky because, when he was born on August 3, 1964, Lucky Dube was in poor health and the doctors were unsure that he would pull through. But the young Dube thrived and at school discovered and developed a love of music.

At the age of 18 he joined his cousin’s mbaqanga band – a style of South African dance music with its roots in a fusion of jazz and rural Zulu styles – playing in a group called the Love Brothers. The group signed to Gallo Records, then known as Tear Records. This is the record company that Dube would remain loyal to throughout the 26 years of his career.

It was his move away from mbaqanga to reggae in the late 1980s that really enabled him to make a name for himself. Hits such as Taxman, Prisoner and Trinity made him a global ambassador for South African music. His music has touched millions through the 20 albums that he recorded in three of the official languages of South Africa: English, Zulu and Afrikaans.

Dube sang about social, political and personal issues, which greatly broadened the range of his popularity. His popularity lies in the fact that he managed to penetrate markets across the colour lines during the height of apartheid, when black and white people were divided even in the music that they listened to.

Dube was the biggest-selling contemporary South African artist. Claire Johnston, the lead vocalist with Mango Groove, a multi-award-winning group, said that she had only fond memories of performing with him: “In the Eighties we would perform these big concerts together and he was always such a good performer, a good man.” Johnston said that the group were due to have worked with Dube on a forthcoming project.

The tributes that continue to pour in – from prominent personalities and ordinary South Africans – show that the void left by an artist whose influence was about more than merely the number of records that he sold.

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