Lulu Kennedy-Cairns is a Scottish singer, actress and television personality.
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the racist National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona is a British singer. She was a member of girl group Atomic Kitten from 1998 until her first departure in 2001 and again from 2012 until her second departure in 2017.
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show was an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", "Only Sixteen" (1975), "A Little Bit More" (1976), "Sharing the Night Together" (1978), "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (1979), "Better Love Next Time" (1979), and "Sexy Eyes" (1980). In addition to its own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein.
Labour of Love is the fourth studio album by British reggae band UB40, and their first album of cover versions. Released in the UK on 12 September 1983, the album is best known for containing the song "Red Red Wine", a worldwide number-one single, but it also includes three further UK top 20 hits, "Please Don't Make Me Cry", "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Cherry Oh Baby". The album reached number one in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands and the top five in Canada, but only reached number 39 in the US on its original release, before re-entering the Billboard 200 in 1988 and peaking at number 14 as a result of "Red Red Wine"'s delayed success in the US.
The Best of UB40 – Volume One is a compilation album by the British reggae band UB40. It was released in 1987 and includes a selection of the band's hits from 1980 to 1986.
"Bankrobber" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash. The song was not released on any of their studio albums, instead appearing on their compilation Black Market Clash. Upon its 1980 release as a single it peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 14 on both the Irish Singles Chart and the New Zealand Singles Chart.
UB44 is the third studio album of original material by UB40, released on the DEP International label in 1982. It was advertised as their 'fourth album' although Present Arms in Dub had been a remix album. The album reached No. 4 in the UK album chart and the early release of the packaging had a hologram cover. UB44 was the Department of Employment form letter sent to British unemployment benefit claimants when they missed their 'signing on' appointment.
"King / Food for Thought" is the debut single by British reggae band UB40. It was released as a double A-side in early 1980 and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and number one in New Zealand.
Rosa Isabel Mutya Buena is an English singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of girl group the Sugababes. With the Sugababes, Buena had four UK number one singles, an additional six top-ten hits and three multi-platinum albums. After leaving the group in December 2005, she released her debut solo album, Real Girl in June 2007. In October 2010, Buena released a compilation album dedicated to British singers, titled Sound of Camden: Mutya Buena.
"Kingston Town" is a 1970 song by Lord Creator released as a single on producer Clancy Eccles' Clandisc label. It was also recorded in 1989 by reggae group UB40 and was released as the second single from their album Labour of Love II, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart and number one in France and the Netherlands.
J. J. Barrie is a Canadian songwriter and singer. He is best known for his 1976 UK chart-topper, "No Charge".
Alistair Ian Campbell is an English singer and songwriter who was the lead singer and a member of the British reggae band UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records worldwide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008, Campbell left UB40 due to a dispute with band management and embarked on a solo career. In 2012, Campbell was announced as one of the three judges on the judging panel of the TV show, New Zealand's Got Talent. In August 2014, Campbell announced that he had reunited with former UB40 band mates Astro and Mickey to record a new album, Silhouette, released on 6 October 2014.
Simon M. Woods is a British entrepreneur and former record producer. Woods was the manager for the band UB40 after having seen them play at a pub, and turned down two offers on their behalf to release under 2 Tone Records, opting to release "Food For Thought" through another label, Graduate, before setting up Dep International that recorded and released UB40 internationally with enormous success. Woods left the band in 1983 and started his own label, to which he signed Swans Way. Woods ran his own marketing company before being hired on by the Birmingham School of Acting, and founded the European Drama Network, a film production company which makes movies based on classic plays. Their first movie was The Mandrake Root; it was directed by Malachi Bogdanov and is based on a comedy written in 1512 by Niccolò Machiavelli. In a co-production with Warwick Business School he wrote and directed The Inferno Show presents Machiavelli The Prince of Comedy, a short comedy to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the writing of The Prince. Currently he is developing a movie, From Ithaca With Love The Odyssey, a modern version of Homer's The Odyssey set in the modern day but made in Ancient Greek and Latin, loosely based on a play of the same name he produced in 2006 with director Malachi Bogdanov as part of the New Generation Arts Festival.
Howard Gray is an English musician, sound engineer, programmer, composer, re-mixer and producer who has worked with Public Image Ltd, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Kirsty MacColl, the Armoury Show, the Pale Fountains, Japan, the Stranglers, Simple Minds, the Pretenders, XTC, UB40, Scritti Politti, Cherubs, Terence Trent D'Arby, Jean Michel Jarre, the Cure, Manic Street Preachers, U2, Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page, Tom Jones and Van Morrison.
UB40 is the eighth album by British reggae band UB40, released on the DEP International label in 1988. This album contained the hit single "Breakfast in Bed" with Chrissie Hynde, which reached No. 6 in the UK charts.
Graham Hamilton Lyle is a Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer.
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
