Virgen’s View: Ali Campbell’s UB40 is back
I’m just groovin’. Groovin’, groovin’ out on life.
I’m just groovin’, and I can’t stop movin’. Groovin’ till I die.
— Groovin’ (Labour of Love II)
UB40 has had so many hits, originals and covers. All great music. For me, the majority of my greatest memories come from “Labour of Love II,” essentially the background music to my high school years and songs that still makes me feel good and carefree, even if just for the duration of each tune.
UB40 is back, featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, and coming to the Pacific Amphitheatre at the OC Fair on Sunday. What a great treat for all us fans.
Ali Campbell, the lead singer and founder of UB40, stressed in a brief phone interview his excitement to be touring and singing those hits with his iconic voice. Sunday’s show also includes English Beat and Jo Mersa Marley.
I asked Campbell how he wanted to be thought of or remembered.
“When I started UB40 in 1979, it was to promote reggae music,” Campbell said. “It is very special to me. I like to be remembered that I helped popularize reggae. It’s great now. You look at reggae and it has so many influences in music today. I’m happy to play a small part in that.”
Modest. To be sure, UB40 played a huge part in the popularization of reggae.
Campbell admits that the “Labour of Love” project, three albums, garnered massive success. He acknowledged the importance of the songs to the fans. Yet the songs were also important to him and UB40.
“It might’ve seemed to others that we became a cover band,” Campbell said.
“But there are 44 other self-penned albums. ‘Promises and Lies,’ that is a self-penned album that sold over 10 million in America. ‘Labour of Love’ was a special project. It’s why we loved reggae. The songs on the ‘Labour of Love,’ those are the songs that we grew up with. You say that it was the background music of your youth in high school. That’s why we love reggae. It was very much our labor of love, songs that we grew up with.”
What is your favorite UB40 song?
“Red, Red Wine” is the most famous. I loved “Kingston Town” because it charmed most females, yet “Groovin’ ” always made me feel great.
The favorite song for Campbell?
“That’s the same as saying who is Jesus’ favorite child,” he said. “In the ‘80s and ‘90s, we had 40 top 20 hits. I love them all, especially the songs from the ‘Labour of Love’ because those are the songs we loved when we grew up. ‘Kingston Town’ and ‘Homely Girl’ were songs we listened to as kids. I never got tired of them. I still love to sing ‘Red, Red Wine.’ I knew ‘Red, Red Wine’ as a ska song. And then it was from Neil Diamond. No one could be more surprised than us.
“With ‘Labour of Love,’ most of them were covers already. We were covering covers. They were R&B hits. That’s what we covered because that’s what we heard in England. It was R&B being covered in reggae.”
Campbell said he feels refreshed to be back with UB40. He left the band in 2008, and it continued with his brother Duncan as the lead singer. He said it was a hard decision to leave because UB40 was what he was known for, and he was honored to be a part of the brand and the band.
Two years ago, Campbell formed his current version of UB40, which is known as “UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro & Mickey Virtue,” to distinguish it from the other group. Astro and Mickey Virtue are also original members.
Overall, he is just happy about the tour and wants to make the most of it.
“I sometimes get the question, ‘Do you ever see a time when UB40 will be reunited?’ ” Campbell said. “This is it. It is us reunited. The fans love it. We just got done with a sold-out tour in England. Things are looking very good for us at the moment.
“What we’ve been doing is really saving the legacy of UB40. Before the others were out to destroy it.”
Long live UB40. Groovin’ till I die.
