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Roger Lucey | |
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Born | Durban | 21 January 1954
Genres | rock 'n roll, blues, jazz, kwela |
Years active | 1977–present |
Labels | 3rd Ear Music, Wea International, Rootspring |
Website | www |
Roger Lucey (born 1954) is a South African musician, journalist, filmmaker, actor, and educator. In the late 1970s and early 1980s his early career as a musician was destroyed by Paul Erasmus of the Security Branch of the South African Police, because the lyrics to Lucey's protest songs were considered a threat to the Apartheid State.[1] Although already aware of his anti-apartheid songs, the South African Government's security apparatus only swung into action to destroy Lucey's career after he performed a radical song in a programme on Voice of America radio. The criminal methods used against Lucey formed part of the testimony given by Paul Erasmus in front of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[2][3]
At the age of 18, Afrikaner Paul Erasmus went into the police force. Roger Lucey wrote protest songs and went to political meetings with his university friends. Paul systematically wrecked Roger's musical career, bugging his house, pressurising WEA records to drop him and personally seizing his records from stores. In 1995, he asked to meet Lucey in person and confessed all. They now consider themselves friends.