AS UB40 CELEBRATE 45 YEARS OF NOT HAVING TO SIGN ON, ROBIN CAMPBELL AND JIMMY BROWN TELL CLASSIC POP WHY THEY’RE STILL A BAND OF BROTHERS – JUST NOT WITH THAT BROTHER...
PAUL KIRKLEY
For a band that famously took its name from a jobseeker’s benefit form, UB40 has been keeping its members in gainful employment for some 45 years now.
“It’s a lifetime, isn’t it?” says Robin Campbell, guitarist and de-facto spokesman for the world’s biggest-selling reggae group. “You look back and wonder where it’s all gone. But I guess that’s how everyone thinks when they become... senior.”
“It’s all a bit of a marijuana-induced haze, to be honest,” adds the band’s drummer James ‘Jimmy’ Brown, with a throaty cackle.
“They’ve been mostly glorious, those years,” reflects Robin, when Classic Pop meets him and Jimmy to mark the milestone birthday. “Of course there’ve been ups and downs. We’ve had some trauma, and we’re still going through it. Our ex-singer is still a thorn in our side.” (More – much more – on that later.) “But on the whole it’s been incredible. I constantly pinch myself that I’ve had the life I’ve had, and the career we’ve had.”
The band – which also includes fellow founding members Earl Falconer on bass and percussionist Norman Hassan – has been marking the anniversary with tours of the US and Europe, while putting the finishing touches to a new studio album, UB45 (see boxout) – their first with Matt Doyle, the singer recruited two years ago following Duncan Campbell’s retirement after a stroke.
As frontman of fellow Birmingham reggae outfit KIOKO, Doyle had previously supported UB40 on tour. “He’s a really good singer, and a massive UB40 fan,” says Robin. “So when my younger brother retired, I thought, ‘This kid is perfect – why should we go looking elsewhere?’ Matt jumped at the idea, but he was like a rabbit in the headlights when he started because it was such a big job, more than he could have dreamed of. But he’s settled in fantastic.”
Another highlight of the band’s 45th birthday celebrations ought to have been their induction into the Music Hall Of Fame during September’s Camden Music Festival. But things didn’t quite go to plan...
“It was going to be a great day – until we found out the selection committee had Ali’s manag
