UB40

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UB40
UB40 at Rock am Ring 1987
UB40 at Rock am Ring 1987
General information
Genre (s) Reggae , pop
founding 1978
Website www.ub40.global
Current occupation
James "Jim" Brown
Duncan Campbell
Guitar, vocals
Robin Campbell
Bass , vocals
Earl Falconer
Norman Lamount Hassan
Brian Travers
Tony Mullins
former members
Guitar, vocals
Alistair "Ali" Campbell
Keyboard
Michael Virtue
Percussion, trumpet
Terence "Astro" Wilson

UB40 is a popular multinational reggae and pop band from Great Britain . The band had a number of hits including Red Red Wine , I Got You Babe, Can't Help Falling in Love and Kingston Town. In their texts, UB40 often touches on social issues such as racism or unemployment .

history

The band was founded in 1978 in Birmingham by brothers Robin and Alistair "Ali" Ian Campbell founded and bought their first instruments from the pain and suffering that singer Ali Campbell after a brawl in a bar awarded got. After six months in the rehearsal room, they recorded a demo tape that was played on the radio and heard there by the famous DJ John Peel . He was so impressed that he invited UB40 to a session in the radio studio.

Chrissie Hynde , the singer of the Pretenders , saw the band at a club concert and offered them to support the Pretenders tour in 1980. The band agreed and got their first record deal with an indie label . During the tour they released their first single Food for Thought, which reached number four in the English charts. Food for Thought was the first single to make it into the top ten without a contract with a major label .

In the same year the debut album Signing Off was released, which sold very well in England and reached number two in the charts. With Signing Off , UB40 created a reggae-based indie underground sound to which there was nothing like it until then. However, the band was never able to build on this individual creativity again. Although it was not a major label, UB40 were also dissatisfied with the politics of their indie label and founded their own label DEP International to gain more independence.

In 1983 UB40 released Labor of Love. This album contains only cover versions . With the single Red Red Wine, a cover by Neil Diamond , they reached number one in the British charts, and with a number 12 they were also in the charts in Germany for the first time.

Not much happened for nearly five years after that success. UB40 release six albums, including two live recordings, but only achieved success with their self-composed songs in their home country.

After the band played their biggest hit Red Red Wine at a concert in honor of Nelson Mandela in 1988 and received euphoric applause, UB40 decided to release the single again. The single managed to re-enter the charts and once again became a bestseller. UB40 took advantage of the increased level of awareness and recorded a second album with cover versions, Labor of Love 2, which then sold very well.

After four years the next album Promises and Lies was released. Can't Help Falling in Love, the cover of a song by Elvis Presley (7 weeks number one in England), ensured the success of this album too. It only reached number two in England, but also number six in the US top 10. An appearance in the movie Sliver with Sharon Stone boosted sales even further.

After Can't Help Falling in Love it became quiet around UB40. They hardly played a role in the international charts. With the album Cover Up , which was released in 2001 , they only reached number 29 in England, and so did the album Who You Fighting For? reached a maximum of 20th place.

Together with the British singer Hunterz , UB40 wrote the song Reasons in 2005 , which they played together with Hunterz and The Dhol Blasters on July 2, 2005 in London's Hyde Park as part of the worldwide Live8 concerts .

On January 25, 2008, singer Ali Campbell announced that he would leave the band after the concerts in February 2008 and that he would concentrate on his solo career in the future. Another reason he cited were irregularities in the band's finances. On March 19, 2008 keyboardist Michael Virtue left the band because of the same financial irregularities.

On the Twentyfourseven tour in 2008 UB40 performed with Duncan Campbell as singer (Robins and Alistair's brother) and Tony Mullins on keyboard.

A judge at the Birmingham County Court upheld Brian Travers, Jimmy Brown, Terence Oswald and Norman Hassan's personal bankruptcy in October 2011 after their record label Dep International also went bankrupt.

Surname

The band name stands for a form for registering unemployment in Great Britain at the time; U nemployment B enefit, Form 40 , UB40 for short.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1980 Signing off - - - UK2
platinum
platinum

(71 weeks)UK
-
First published: August 1980
Producer: UB40
Sales: 307,500
1981 Present arms DE40 (4 weeks)
DE
- - UK2
platinum
platinum

(38 weeks)UK
-
First published: May 1981
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40
Sales: 350,000
Present Arms in Dub - - - UK38 (7 weeks)
UK
-
First published: September 1981
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40
1982 UB44 - - - UK4th
gold
gold

(8 weeks)UK
-
First published: September 1982
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40
Sales: 100,000
1983 Labor of Love DE29
gold
gold

(9 weeks)DE
- CH-
platinum
platinum
CH
UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(76 weeks)UK
US14th
platinum
platinum

(63 weeks)US
First published: September 1983
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40
Sales: 2,075,000
1984 Geffery Morgan ... DE59 (1 week)
DE
- - UK3
silver
silver

(14 weeks)UK
US68 (26 weeks)
US
First published: October 1984
Producer: Howard Gray, UB40
Sales: 60,000
1985 Baggariddim - - CH22 (3 weeks)
CH
UK14th
gold
gold

(23 weeks)UK
US40 (25 weeks)
US
First published: September 1985
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40
Sales: 100,000
1986 Council in the Kitchen - - CH21 (3 weeks)
CH
UK8th
gold
gold

(20 weeks)UK
US53 (17 weeks)
US
First published: July 1986
Producer: UB40
Sales: 207,500
1988 UB40 DE62 (1 week)
DE
- CH15 (6 weeks)
CH
UK12
gold
gold

(12 weeks)UK
US44 (27 weeks)
US
First published: July 1988
Producer: John Shaw, UB40
Sales: 157,500
1989 Labor of Love II DE9 (32 weeks)
DE
AT6 (13 weeks)
AT
- UK3
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(68 weeks)UK
US30th
platinum
platinum

(111 weeks)US
First published: November 1989
Producer: UB40
Sales: 2,865,000
1993 Promises and Lies DE2
platinum
platinum

(32 weeks)DE
AT2
gold
gold

(22 weeks)AT
CH2
platinum
platinum

(27 weeks)CH
UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(39 weeks)UK
US6th
platinum
platinum

(41 weeks)US
First published: July 1993
Producer: UB40
Sales: 2,940,000
1997 Guns in the ghetto DE75 (7 weeks)
DE
AT20 (7 weeks)
AT
CH20 (8 weeks)
CH
UK7th
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK
US176 (2 weeks)
US
First published: July 1997
Producer: UB40
Sales: 60,000
1998 Labor of Love III - - - UK8th
gold
gold

(14 weeks)UK
-
First published: October 1998
Producer: UB40
Sales: 115,000
2001 Cover Up DE84 (1 week)
DE
- - UK29 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: October 2001
Producer: UB40
2003 HomeGrown - - - UK49 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: November 2003
Producers: UB40, Charlie Skarbek
2005 Who You Fighting For? DE68 (2 weeks)
DE
- CH81 (2 weeks)
CH
UK20 (6 weeks)
UK
-
First published: June 2005
Producer: UB40
2008 TwentyFourSeven - - - UK81 (1 week)
UK
-
First published: June 2008
Producer: UB40
2010 Labor of Love IV - - - UK24 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: February 2010
Producer: UB40
2013 Getting Over the Storm - - - UK29 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: September 2, 2013
2018 A Real Labor of Love - - - UK2
silver
silver

(13 weeks)UK
-
First published: March 2nd, 2018
feat. Ali Campbell, Astro & Mickey Virtue
Sales: 60,000
2019 For the many - - - UK29 (1 week)
UK
-
First published: March 15, 2019

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Web links

Commons : UB40  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. UB40 PRESS STATEMENT ( Memento from March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. UB40 In Chaos After Second Departure. In: contactmusic.com. March 19, 2008, accessed September 20, 2015.
  3. Chart sources: DE AT CH UK1 UK2 UK3 US