UB40
(UK, twenty one Top 40 hits, twelve Top 40 albums)

BIGSHOT BRUMMIE band who have done more to bring reggae into uneducated households than any other act, making an entire career out of covering the genre's anthems while staying in total awe of their original writers and performers. Led by smiley Campbell siblings Ali (vocals) and Robin (harmonies, guitar) and backed by bloody loads of dedicated, multi-racial musicians, all assembled via the Midlands pub band scene after meticulous checking of CVs to assess their reggae credentials, they got their break after successfully buying on to the Pretenders' tour in '80. The first single "Food For Thought" ("politicians argue, sharpening their knives", flip-sided equally with Martin Luther King lamentation "King" ("King, where are your people now?") shot straight to No.4, exposing the world to Ali Campbell's rich, peerless voice, and was followed back into the Top 10 by two more profound double headers in "My Way Of Thinking"/"I Think It's Going To Rain" and "The Earth Dies Screaming"/"Dream A Lie". There were assumptions that they were a product of the 2-Tone scene from Coventry, due to the political truisms, but the lighter sound made the difference. Word spread that they were totally independent, enhanced to the point of no doubt at all when their record deal expired and they set up their own famed label DEP International, building a studio in what was once a Birmingham bacon factory.

 DOMINANT

IN '81, THEY went back to the Top 10 with the tale of doleite desperation "One In Ten" ("a statistical reminder of a world that doesn't care") which caught the mood of many a hobbledehoy under strain from the Thatcher government in a year when cities were on fire. Consolidation followed through until '83, when they released what they thought was another reggae classic in "Red Red Wine" ("stay close to me, don't let me be alone") which became one of the definitive singles of the decade and went to No.1. It wasn't until ages later that the Campbells discovered it had been initially penned as a cabaret winebar type MOR song by Neil Diamond. Not that they were bothered, although they did sauce it up with a self-penned rap for live shows, performed by ubiquitous, dreadlocked, grinning trumpeter Astro.  The album "Labour Of Love" accompanied the song to No.1, spawning three more hits in "Please Don't Make Me Cry" ("you say you're gonna leave me, I'm begging you to stay"), "Many Rivers To Cross" ("and I can't seem to find my way home") and "Cherry Oh Baby" ("if you say that you love me madly, well babe I'd accept you gladly"). They were at their strongest in '83 and '84, capping a dominant period with another Top 10 hit in "If It Happens Again" ("and I won't say I told you so, I won't say I told you so") before '85 came along.  

 AMBITIOUS

LITTLE CHANGED musically (though politics took a back seat) as they called up their Pretenders pal Chrissie Hynde to put the necessary female touch to a slinky version of "I Got You Babe" ("I got you to hold my hand, I got you to understand") which gave them a second No.1, and featured a video of pre-gig soundcheck practice, suddenly turning into packed encore. It was pursued to No.3 shortly afterwards by the gorgeous "Don't Break My Heart" ("it doesn't matter you see, I know you'll love me with basic love, never diamonds") which also had a memorable flick moment, when the song deliberately got stuck, with Ali Campbell wandering over to the jukebox to thump it, pushing the stylus back on course. In '86, a protestative feel returned (though not as vitriolic) when "Sing Our Own Song" ("we will fight for the right to be free and we will build our own society") got to No.5 before they went close to novelty with "Rat In Mi Kitchen" ("there's a rat in mi kitchen, what am I gonna do?") and then into ambitious future mode with "Maybe Tomorrow"  ("you're all I need to get by, no-one else can make me cry the way you do baby"). The decade closed with Hynde returning to duet on "Breakfast In Bed" and then a Volume 2 album of "Labour Of Love", the first single of which ended the decade the way it started, with a Top 10 hit in the form of Chi-Lites schoolday nostalgia dribbler "Homely Girl" ("but now they'd give all that they learned in school to be somewhere in the dark with you").

UNFUSSY

THOUGH A story does the rounds about how they once deprived Dublin of just about all their narcotic supplies after one particularly kite-high sesh, UB40 stayed pretty much clear of scandal, but this did not make them dull or characterless. They set their stall out from the start, unashamedly adding pop factor to timeless classics of their chosen genre without once showing disrespect to the originals, which continued in much the same vein in the 90s, though an element of surprise was certainly experienced when they put those familiar in-out drums and bass to Elvis Presley's simpery ballad "Can't Help Falling In Love", which went to No.1 with an unsubtle title change. The name, of course, came from the number of the social security card for the jobless population with whom they empathised from the start. Still together, still doing their bit and still a refreshing, dedicated troupe of unfussy, consummate musicians. Take a bow - Ali and Robin Campbell, Astro (trumpet, vocals, smiling), Brian Travers (saxophone, horns), Earl Falconer (bass), Michael Virtue (keyboards), Norman Hassan (percussion) and James Brown (drums). Top notch, the lot of them.

Biggest Hit: "Red Red Wine", "I Got You Babe", both No.1, 1983 and 1985
Defining Moment: "Red red wine, stay close to me..."

Matt