South African reggae star Lucky Dube, named by his mother after he survived health problems as a baby, was unable to live through an apparent carjacking near his home in a Johannesburg suburb last night. Dube was 43.

Lucky Dube

The singer, who released more than 20 albums in his illustrious career, was reportedly dropping his teenage son and daughter off in the Rosettenville suburb of the South African capital on Thursday evening when three shots were fired into his car.

Witnesses told BBC News that the wounded Dube tried to drive his Chrysler away and hit a tree after he was shot. He was then declared dead at the scene. Dube's children were out of the car at the time and unharmed.

Local police told The Times of Johannesburg that they are on the hunt for three men driving a blue VW Polo believed to have been involved in the botched hijacking.

Dube launched his career in 1979 as a singer in the traditional Zulu music style of mbaqanga, but switched to reggae in 1984 to express his anger against Apartheid.

He gained international prominence during the campaign against Apartheid in the late 1980s, and several of his Apartheid-era albums, among them Think About The Children and Prisoner, went platinum.

Dube is survived by his wife, Zanele, and seven children.