UB40 Battles Rift Among Members

UNTIL JANUARY, UB40 had maintained all eight original members throughout its 30-year career.

But then singer Ali Campbell left the British reggae superstars to start a solo career, and in late spring keyboardist Mickey Virtue also bolted the band — to join Campbell's project.

Meanwhile, the remaining six members of UB40 recruited Campbell's older brother Duncan to take over Ali's vocals and Tony Mullins to play keys.

"They're together doing their thing — there's like two UB40s at the moment, but we've got more original members in our party," said UB40 founding bassist Earl Falconer.

Campbell's departure came amid acrimony, Falconer said.

"Basically, he was doing an LP like a solo project, and basically, he kept on infringing on what we were going to do — the way we make decisions and everything," Falconer said. "To cut a long story short, he wasn't really happy with our management and he thought, basically, we was being ripped off and he became really discontented and he just ended up saying, 'Well, I'm not prepared to work with the band anymore,' and he left to embark on a solo career."

Virtue left in March, citing similar reasons to Campbell's, which prompted the band to launch a full-on investigation into its own finances.

"We came out with a clean bill of health; all those things they were going on about probably got dispelled," Falconer said.

UB40 is touring behind the band's latest album, "TwentyFourSeven," which features Ali Campbell singing, as well as veteran reggae singer-songwriter Maxi Priest on two tracks. Priest also sits in for a few songs during the group's live set, sharing the stage with Duncan Campbell.

Falconer said getting Duncan up to speed wasn't as hard as you might think.
"They've been a musical family — their father was a famous folk singer [Ian Campbell] — and they kind of grew up singing together, harmonizing, so it was like the perfect choice. It was actually [percussionist and trombonist Norman Hassan] who came up with the idea."

Duncan Campbell had a month to learn the band's road repertoire, and then UB40 got in the studio to practice. Falconer said he thinks it's the most the band has practiced since its early days.

"The reports have been brilliant, a lot of people can't even tell the difference because they are so similar," Falconer said. "They really do know harmonies and how to work out harmonies so they sound like the original records as much as they can. Basically, they sound the same, man — it even fools me."

UB40's tour, which stops at Wolf Trap on Aug. 25, is a mix of old and new, but leans heavily on the band's greatest hits — a nod, Falconer said, to longtime fans.
But don't discount UB40's new music. Falconer says the new album is among the band's best.

"Obviously, the lyrics are a lot better and, obviously, we can play a lot better, but I think in terms of a record it's as good as our first one," he said. "It's kind of honest, and we all got in a room and played, and it's all live. The last couple of LPs we've kind of reverted back to that. You can arrange things right away instead of sticking it in a computer and having everyone and everything come in separate. [Playing live in the studio is] a lot better, a lot quicker, a lot more productive."

For the rest of the year, UB40 plans to return to America twice and continue touring the world.

"It's been stressful," Falconer said, "but we've come out the other side and everyone's quite happy now,"


The Reggae News Agency

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