UB40
UB40 | |
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UB40 at Rock am Ring 1987 |
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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 | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1980 | Signing off | - | - | - |
UK2
platinum
(71 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: August 1980
Producer: UB40 Sales: 307,500 |
1981 | Present arms |
DE40 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK2
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
(8 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: September 1982
Producer: Ray Falconer, UB40 Sales: 100,000 |
1983 | Labor of Love |
DE29
gold
(9 weeks)DE |
- |
CH-
platinum
CH
|
UK1 × 2
(76 weeks)UK |
US14th
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
(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
(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
(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
(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 × 3
(68 weeks)UK |
US30th
platinum
(111 weeks)US |
First published: November 1989
Producer: UB40 Sales: 2,865,000 |
1993 | Promises and Lies |
DE2
platinum
(32 weeks)DE |
AT2
gold
(22 weeks)AT |
CH2
platinum
(27 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 2
(39 weeks)UK |
US6th
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
(10 weeks)UK |
US176 (2 weeks) US |
First published: July 1997
Producer: UB40 Sales: 60,000 |
1998 | Labor of Love III | - | - | - |
UK8th
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
(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
Individual evidence
- ↑ UB40 PRESS STATEMENT ( Memento from March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ UB40 In Chaos After Second Departure. In: contactmusic.com. March 19, 2008, accessed September 20, 2015.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK1 UK2 UK3 US