UB40

Formed 1978 in Birmingham, England Styles Reggae-Pop, Alternative/ Indie Rock, Contemporary Reggae, College Rock, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Pop/ Rock, Reggae Biography Named after a British unemployment benefit form, pop-reggae band UB40 was formed in a welfare line in 1978, and its multiracial lineup reflected the working-class community its 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. 1983’s 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» re-entered 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 its trademark left-wing politics and was concentrating more on perfecting its reggae oldies covers than its original material; however, the gimmick has thus far resulted in huge sales figures in both the U.S. and U.K., with Promises and Lies reaching number six and number one, respectively. 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 their version of the spiritual «Swing Low» with the multi-cultural 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 spring of 2006. Two years later their album Twentyfourseven would be their last with vocalist Ali Campbell and keyboardist Michael Virtue. Their 2010 release Labour of Love IV would introduce Ali’s brother Duncan as the group’s new lead singer. Discography (albums) 1980 Signing Off 1981 Present Arms 1981 Present Arms in Dub 1982 UB44 1983 Labour of Love 1983 Live 1983 More UB40 Music 1984 Geffery Morgan… 1985 Little Baggariddim 1986 Rat in the Kitchen 1987 UB40 CCCP: Live in Moscow 1988 UB40 1989 Labour of Love II 1993 Promises and Lies 1997 Guns in the Ghetto 1998 Presents the Dancehall Album 1998 Labour of Love III 2000 Anansi 2003 Homegrown 2005 Who You Fighting For? 2006 UB40 Present the Dancehall Album 2007 Live at Montreux 2002 2008 The Lost Tapes 2008 Twentyfourseven 2010 Live at the London O2 Arena 2010 Live at Birmingham LG Arena   Официальный сайт: ub40.global