Benjamin Dube

Pastor Benjamin Dube stands as a multi-platinum South African minister, vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose recordings have repeatedly topped domestic gospel charts. He has guided hundreds of local musicians and ranks among the nation’s most influential figures in sacred music. Early exposure came through performances with his parents and siblings in the Dube Family Singers; he later continued the lineage by recording and touring with his three sons, known collectively as the Dube Brothers. His solo breakthrough arrived in 1986 via the single “Holy Spirit,” issued as Benjamin & the Youth Choir and produced by Chicco Twala for Dephon Records’ Ron B imprint. The track crossed over to both secular and religious stations and moved more than 25,000 units inside South Africa. Two years afterward, “Ebenezer,” featuring duet vocals from the unrelated reggae artist Lucky Dube, reached the summit of the country’s gospel and sacred charts. Subsequent releases such as the award-winning Celebration helped establish praise-and-worship music as a recognized genre nationwide. His first live album, 2000’s I Feel Like Going On, appeared on New York’s Harmony Records and earned platinum certification at home. The 2004 project Oh! Bless Our God achieved multi-platinum status, as did 2008’s In His Presence. Healing in His Presence, released in 2012, included contributions from his mother Grace and the Dube Brothers. In 2017 he delivered the multi-platinum Spiritual Celebration, Vol. 1.

Born in Johannesburg in 1962 as the youngest of four children to minister Benjamin and gospel singer-educator Grace, young Dube joined the family ensemble at age seven and began international church tours. By 1974 he had acquired proficiency on guitar, piano, and drums. Following the 1976 murder of his father, Grace relocated the group abroad; while in the Netherlands in 1977 they recorded Father Forgive Them, whose title track was written by Benjamin Dube, Jr. During continued travels he prepared for ordination, which occurred in 1986 at age twenty-four. That same year “Holy Spirit” became a nationwide crossover success. The 1988 album Ebenezer again featured Lucky Dube and sold strongly beyond gospel circles, cementing Dube’s domestic celebrity. He supported the Rev. James Cleveland on a South African tour, earned an American slot backing Andrae Crouch and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and contributed to the Dube Family Singers’ albums We’re What We Are and Love Africa. After moving to EMI’s CCP Records he cut a self-titled project with producer Sizwe Zako.

As his independent ministry expanded, Dube founded the non-profit High Praise Centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg, in 1994 and served as its CEO. That year he addressed the inauguration of Nelson Mandela and has since shared stages with Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bishop John Francis, Bishop Tudor Bismark, Kirk Franklin, Andrae Crouch, Israel Houghton, and others. His singles reached congregations and religious broadcasters in the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Australia, and Japan. The 1999 live recording I Feel Like Going On, issued in 2000 on Harmony Records, topped South African gospel charts and attained platinum status. Oh! Bless Our God followed with multi-platinum sales in 2004, while 2007’s You Blessed Me Still reached number one on European gospel listings and triple-platinum certification domestically. Dube received the South African Music Association’s Best Contemporary Gospel award and the Best Praise & Worship Album prize in 2007, then claimed the Crown Gospel Music Award for Best Praise & Worship Artist in 2008. At the 2009 Crown Gospel Music Awards he was named Best Male Artist and honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He established Hope Arise (AHA) in 2009 and co-founded God’s Worshipers Convocation (GWC).

Through his Dube Connection imprint, licensed to Sony BMG and Spirit Music, he issues his own material and that of the Dube Brothers while signing additional artists. Worship in His Presence earned platinum certification in 2010; the following year Praise the Lord: The Collection, Vol. 1 was certified gold. At home he regularly preached and performed before thousands each Sunday; abroad, sold-out venues requested both his sermons and his songs. The 2012 album Healing in His Presence went multi-platinum, succeeded by the gold-certified Looking Back and Renewal in His Presence in 2013. After 2014 international tours alongside the Dube Brothers, he issued the double-length Sanctified in His Presence, featuring Mabongi Mabaso, Nomthandazo, Mnguni, and others. Following performances across South Africa, Asia, and Europe, Glory in His Presence appeared in 2019 as a double album containing new material and guest appearances by Sethu Gumede, Unathi Mzekeli, the Dube Brothers, VaShawn Mitchell, and additional South African gospel figures; it too attained platinum status in South Africa.