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 more than 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.
"Can't Help Falling in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the album Blue Hawaii (1961). It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc. The melody is based on "Plaisir d'amour", a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini. The song was initially written from the perspective of a woman as "Can't Help Falling in Love with Him", which explains the first and third line ending on "in" and "sin" rather than words rhyming with "you".
"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, Just for You. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinking red wine is the only way to forget his woes.
Present Arms is the second album by UB40 and was released in 1981. It spent 38 weeks on the UK album charts, reaching number 2. An album of original songs, it spawned two top 20 hits in "One in Ten" and "Don't Let It Pass You By/Don't Slow Down" (16).
"Breakfast in Bed" is a soul–R&B song written by Muscle Shoals songwriters Eddie Hinton and Donnie Fritts for Dusty Springfield. It takes a knowing spin on the line "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", the title of a song that had previously been a number one hit for her in the UK. After being released on her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis, it was recorded and popularized the same year by Baby Washington. Harry J produced three reggae versions in 1972, by Lorna Bennett, Scotty, and Bongo Herman.
"Many Rivers to Cross" is a song written and recorded in 1969 by Jimmy Cliff. It has since been recorded by many musicians, including Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Percy Sledge, Little Milton, Desmond Dekker, UB40, Cher, The Brand New Heavies, Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Walker Brothers, Marcia Hines, Toni Childs, Oleta Adams, Linda Ronstadt, Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams, Chris Pierce, Arthur Lee, Ted Leo, and Jimmy Barnes. It was also performed in the Caribbean by Alison Hinds of Barbados and Tessanne Chin of Jamaica, Cliff's native nation.
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.
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.
Baggariddim, not to be confused with the EP Little Baggariddim released in the US, is the sixth album by UB40, released in 1985. Most of the tracks are reworkings of previous UB40 recordings that originally appeared on Labour of Love and Geffery Morgan, here showcasing guest singers and "toasters" on vocals. Guest artists included Chrissie Hynde, the leader of The Pretenders, and Douglas Gilbert, lead trombonist with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). In the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, this album was released in a gatefold sleeve containing an additional 3-track 12" EP. The album features two hits, "I Got You Babe"—a duet with Hynde that reached number one in the UK, Ireland and Australia—and the UK number-three follow-up "Don't Break My Heart", which was the 'B-side' of "I Got You Babe" with vocals added.
The UB40 File is a compilation album of all of UB40's 1980 Graduate recordings. The album first appeared as a double vinyl LP in 1985 and features all the tracks from Signing Off on Record One, the 3 tracks from the 12" single that accompanied Signing Off on the A-side of Record Two with the tracks released as singles that did not feature on the debut album on B-side.
"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.
More UB40 Music is a compilation album of all of UB40's 1980 Graduate recordings. The album first appeared as a Dutch import on double vinyl LP and cassette in 1983 and features all the tracks from Signing Off, the three tracks from the 12" single that accompanied Signing Off along with the tracks released as singles that didn't feature on the debut album. The tracks from their 2nd and 3rd double A-side singles are all included in their 12" extended versions.
"One in Ten" is a song by British reggae band UB40, released in July 1981 as a single from their second album Present Arms. It became the band's fourth top-ten hit, peaking at number seven on the UK Singles Chart.
"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" is a 1967 song by Bob Dylan first released on John Wesley Harding. It features Pete Drake on pedal steel guitar, and two other Nashville musicians, Charlie McCoy on bass guitar and Kenneth Buttrey on drums, both of whom had appeared on Dylan's previous album, Blonde on Blonde.
"Homely Girl" is a song by American vocal group the Chi-Lites. Release in 1973, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, number three on the US Hot Soul Singles chart, and number 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100. A cover by UB40 also became a hit between 1989 and 1991 in several countries.
TwentyFourSeven is the sixteenth studio album by UB40. It is the last UB40 album to feature the classic line-up with vocalist/guitarist Ali Campbell and keyboardist Mickey Virtue. In 2008 both of them departed from the band.
Alistair Ian Campbell is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer 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 panel of the TV show New Zealand's Got Talent. In August 2014, Campbell announced he had reunited with former UB40 bandmates Astro and Mickey to record a new album, Silhouette, released on 6 October 2014.
"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It appears on Julius La Rosa's 1966 album You're Gonna Hear from Me, Eric Burdon's 1967 album Eric Is Here, on Newman's 1968 debut album Randy Newman, in The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003), and in Newman's official and bootleg live albums. It is one of his most covered songs.
The discography of UB40, a British reggae band, consists of 20 studio albums, 19 compilation albums, six live albums, four remix albums, 64 singles and a number of appearances with other artists.
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