UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell

One of the greatest reggae bands of all time, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell will be returning to SA in 2023!

UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell will add another chapter to a story that began in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley in 1979 when UB40, taking their name from the form given to individuals claiming unemployment benefit, started putting an indigenous British slant on Jamaican reggae. After reaching number four in the charts with King / Food For Thought, the multi-racial band released their debut album Signing Off in 1980. During their career they have sold in excess of 70 million records and topped the UK singles chart on three occasions – with Red Red Wine in 1983; I Got You Babe (a duet between Ali and Pretenders singer and long-standing UB40 champion Chrissie Hynde) in 1985; and (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You in 1993. Two of those hits, Red Red Wine and (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You, also went to number one in the USA.

Lead singer Ali Campbell joined Birmingham singer and toaster Pato Banton to top the UK charts again with Baby Come Back in 1994. Paying homage to the songs that inspired them, UB40 also released three volumes of the Labour Of Love series, covering Jamaican standards such as Eric Donaldson's Cherry Oh Baby and Lord Creator's Kingston Town.

Ali is joined by his incredible 9-piece band and will be honouring long time member Astro who sadly passed in 2021. Whilst a handful of songs from the forthcoming album will feature alongside favourites from the Labour Of Love series, Ali is keen to include older numbers such as King (about the legacy of American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King) and One In Ten (about unemployment in the UK) that are, unfortunately, as timely today as when they were first sung in 1980 and 1981.