UB40 Tickets

Short Biography
Most bands who've just celebrated their 28th anniversary would be forgiven for resting on their laurels, and especially when they've more than 50 hit singles and seventy million record sales to their credit. UB40 however, are an exception. Their last two albums, Who You Fighting For and TwentyFourSeven, have been widely acclaimed, and the way in which they've triumphed in the wake of lead singer Ali Campbell's departure has proven truly remarkable.

To suggest that UB40 are currently experiencing something of a renaissance is an understatement. Crowds still flock to their concerts, and Robin Campbell's brother Duncan has quickly made his presence felt in the group. By returning to traditional methods of recording - i.e., playing "live" instruments as an ensemble, and also writing the kind of social commentaries that define the times we live in, just as they did on classic albums like Signing Off and Present Arms - UB40 have succeeded in rejuvenating themselves to extraordinary effect.

Reggae music has long championed the poor and innocent. At its best, it conveys a message intended to help forge a better and more just society, and uplift those in need. In accordance with their British, working-class roots, UB40 have risen to this task with distinction. They've empathised with their audiences, as well as entertaining them, which is why they were invited to perform at the Nelson Mandela concert in 1988 and Live8 in 2005, when they performed to an estimated television audience of three billion, and made the occasion count by highlighting anti-war material from Who You Fighting For. Such appearances - like those at former US Vice-President Al Gore's Earth Concerts - go hand-in-hand with their support of charities like the United Nations AIDS Awareness Campaign and the Teenage Cancer Trust, and also their willingness to help further the careers of other artists, whether from Jamaica (as on UB40 Presents The Dancehall Album) or England.

The initial line-up was formed in a suburb of Birmingham during the summer of 1978 and comprised of Robin and Ali Campbell on guitar and vocals, Earl Falconer on bass, Brian Travers on sax, James Brown on drums, Norman Hassan on percussion and Michael Virtue on keyboards, together with MC Terence "Astro" Wilson. Another of the Campbell brothers, Duncan, declined to join the band, thinking they wouldn't get too far, but would seamlessly replace Ali on lead vocals thirty years later!

On the surface, it would appear there's not much left for the world's leading reggae act to achieve. On current form however, UB40 are revitalised, and revelling in the opportunity to make their voices heard longer and stronger than ever before.

In-depth Biography
Named after a British unemployment benefit form, pop-reggae band UB40 were formed in a welfare line in 1978, and their multiracial lineup reflected the working-class community their members came from. The band consolidated its street credibility with political topics appealing to dissatisfied youth and got a boost from fans of the waning 2-Tone ska revival movement. Brothers Robin (lead guitar) and Ali Campbell (guitar, lead vocals) formed the centerpiece of the group, which also included bassist Earl Falconer, keyboardist Mickey Virtue, saxophonist Brian Travers, drummer Jim Brown, percussionist Norman Hassan, and toaster Terence "Astro" Wilson. The band purchased its first instruments with compensation money Ali Campbell received after a bar fight, even though few of the members knew how to play them.

But by the end of the year, the group was invited to tour with the Pretenders. Their "Food for Thought" single reached the U.K. Top Ten in 1980, beginning a long streak of chart appearances. Signing Off and Present Arms were big sellers in Britain, if not America, and addressed the political issues of the day in songs like "One in Ten," a Top Ten hit blasting Margaret Thatcher for the country's unemployment rate. Released in 1983, Labour of Love, an album of reggae cover songs, gave the group its first chart album in America and first number one U.K. hit with Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine." Several albums of original material sold well in the U.K., but only respectably in the U.S., where the group's biggest hit was a Top 30 cover of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" featuring the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde.

In 1988, the group performed "Red Red Wine" at a Nelson Mandela tribute concert, and a Phoenix radio station trotted the single out for a second go-round. Listener response was far more enthusiastic, and "Red Red Wine" reentered the charts and went all the way to the top. Finally having hit on a way to conquer the lucrative American market, UB40 responded with another covers album, Labour of Love II, which produced Top Ten singles with versions of the Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and Al Green's "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)." The group scored a huge hit in America with Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," which was initially featured in the Sharon Stone film Sliver and spent seven weeks at number one. By this time, UB40 had largely abandoned their trademark left-wing politics and were concentrating more on perfecting their reggae oldies covers than their original material; however, the gimmick resulted in huge sales figures in both the U.S. and U.K., with Promises and Lies reaching number six in the States and number one in Britain.

In the spring of 1998, UB40 released Presents the Dancehall Album in the U.K. A third Labour of Love collection followed a year later. In fall 2002, UB40 bounced back with yet another collection. The Fathers of Reggae, which appeared on Virgin in November, highlighted the band's roots in reggae in a selection of classics. In 2003, the band scored a major hit in the U.K. when its version of the spiritual "Swing Low" with the multicultural choir United Colours of Sound became the official anthem for the 2003 English Rugby team. The song was featured on the 2003 album Homegrown. As their 2005 album, Who You Fighting For?, was being released, an announcement was made that the band would be working with Birmingham's Repertory Theatre to stage a new musical in the spring of 2006. Two years later their album Twentyfourseven became their last with vocalist Ali Campbell and keyboardist Michael Virtue. Their 2010 release Labour of Love IV introduced Ali’s brother Duncan as the group’s new lead singer. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi