B40 and Ali Campbell have not seen eye to eye over the years – here’s why they are feuding again in 2023
Members and ex-members of UB40, which formed in Birmingham, have butted heads again as their longstanding feud continues.
The English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978, and the name UB40 refers to an unemployment benefit form from that time. The band has more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, have won many awards and sold over 100 million records worldwide.
The group began as friends and brothers but they eventually fell out with former member of the band Ali Campbell quitting in 2008 to work on his solo projects. Since then, Ali’s group has changed its name several times and is currently called UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell.
UB40, which includes Robin Campbell, and Ali have had disagreements over the years over the use of the name UB40 in any capacity and in the latest round of disagreements, they rowed over a tour featuring Ali in Africa.
On October 18, Talent Africa Group announced that “UB40” was returning to Uganda for the first time since 2008 for a concert on December 21 at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, Uganda. UB40 responded to the announcement clarifying that it’s not them who will be performing in Uganda.
They said: “Promoting partners at ‘Africa Talent Group’ are quoted in a YouTube video saying, ‘This will be the second and last time UB40 will be coming to Uganda.’ UB40’s management want to make it clear, the claims are completely untrue and that the band hopes to return to Uganda in the future.”
Ali reacted saying this was “yet another attempt to sabotage and discredit” by his former band. However, UB40 have also shared their side of the story to set “records straight”.
Ali Campbell’s full statement on UB40’s accusations
What Ali Campbell said: “It has continually come to our attention that Ali’s former band members and their current management are hell-bent on trying to stop UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell from performing shows globally including Ali’s forthcoming show in UGANDA.
“For some time now the promoters of Ali’s shows and TV stations have been flooded with calls and emails from the forementioned that ‘UB40’ will not be performing, citing that Ali Campbell has no legal right to use the name and threatening them with legal action, in a clear attempt to stop Ali performing.
“For the record, UB40 was a band that Ali started after receiving compensation from an injury he sustained, making him the founding member of the band.
“Quote from Robin Campbell taken from the book Blood and Fire. ‘Make no mistake, UB40 would never have existed if it wasn’t for Ali’, says Robin. ‘Not only was he the catalyst, but he was the reason I was interested. If Earl, Jimmy and Brian, say, had asked me to be in the band I’d have said: ‘No thanks.’ But when Ali said: ‘We’re serious’, I believed him, particularly since he was prepared to put his compensation money into it. Having a few thousand quid back then was like having a fortune.’
“When Ali Campbell put his band, UB40, together, his goal and ambition was to take reggae music to the masses globally, something he has continually achieved doing. Since leaving the original set up of UB40 not only has Ali continued to tour using the name UB40, he has also continued to release successful Top Ten Albums – something which the former members of his band haven’t.
“Since leaving the original set up of UB40 his former band members, despite their claims, have unsuccessfully via the legal system tried to stop Ali Using the name UB40. In the past few years alone UB40 feat Ali Campbellhas toured over 70 countries in arenas and stadiums and on TV shows and festivals without any legal challenge or dispute.
“For the record there is no court or judge in the world that has ever told Ali Campbell that he cannot use the name UB40 at all, whether it’s to perform or to release new material. Ali Campbell has never at any point tried to stop his former band mates using the name UB40.
“Ali’s shows are clearly advertised as UB40 Feat. Ali Campbell and this is in place, so that fans clearly know they are getting the original singer who sang on all of the hits, bar our dearly beloved Astros’ “Rat in Mi Kitchen”. However, the former members of Ali’s band never mention that Ali is not performing with them, despite continually using footage of Ali to promote their shows.
“We believe it is up to the fans of reggae music and UB40, to make their own decisions on who is UB40, is it the voice – Ali Campbell? is it the 4 other surviving members? Or is it all of them? This is for you to decide, not Ali and certainly not his former band mates or their management. But what we will say is this; Ali Campbell will continue to do what he set out to do when he formed UB40, and that is to record, and perform the hits of UB40 that he was the lead singer of and spread his love of Reggae music globally.”
UB40 reacts to Ali Campbell statement
UB40’s statement on Ali: “It’s time to set the record straight and make the position very clear, between UB40 and Ali Campbell. Since Ali Campbell left UB40, 15 years ago in 2008 to pursue a solo career, his act has had so many different names publicisedand promoted:
“Ali Campbell, Ali Campbell & The Dep Band, Ali Campbell the legendary voice of UB40, Ali Campbell the Golden Voice of UB40, Ali Campbell the True Voice of UB40, UB40 Reunited, UB40 Featuring Ali Astro & Micky, UB40 Featuring Ali & Astro, UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell In Memory of Astro, UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell, UB40 Live featuring Ali Campbell to name a few.
“In response to one of the many factually incorrect statements made by Ali Campbell’s team, Ali Campbell hasn’t used the name ‘UB40’ continually for 45 years. This has been clearly documented.
“The promoters want to call us UB40, but we are Ali Campbell and the Dep Band. We are proud of who we are.” – Ali Campbell in ‘Time Out Dubai’ 2011.
“UB40 have been touring and recording successfully, globally and continuously for 45 years and are currently celebrating 45 years as a band. It is well documented that Ali Campbell left UB40 to go solo in 2008 and following cancelled and failed tours, he then began to misuse the name and brand in order to sell his tickets, five years later, in 2013. This video using archive footage, shows how Ali Campbell’s story has changed over time.
“UB40 has always been a democratic band and despite a couple of line up changes, 4/5 of the surviving, founding members of UB40, Robin Campbell, Earl Falconer, James Brown and Norman Hassan, have been writing, recording and performing as UB40 since 1978. UB40’s legendary brassn section consisting of Brian Travers, Martin Meredith and Laurence Parry has remained the same for over 30 years until the tragic and recent passing of Brian in 2021, after a heroic battle with a brain tumour.
“UB40 notoriously credited all of the lineup with writing credits, so everyone always got an equal share. Contrary to popular belief, UB40’s current line up and Brian Travers wrote all of the bands original hit songs, and of course, Astro wrote most of his own raps. The truth is, the only song Ali ever wrote during his time in UB40, was ‘My Way of Thinking.’
“The facts are that Ali Campbell is ‘passing off’ his now solo project, as UB40, by billing himself as UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell. This causes a lot of confusion, because the deceptive billing implies that Ali Campbell is performing with UB40. In fact, it is just one ex-member of UB40 and his backing band of session musicians, none of whom have ever performed with UB40, or ever participated in a UB40 record.
“Ali Campbell and his team are continuously using deceptive messaging, images of the original band including our current line up, and market their act in huge UB40 lettering. The ‘Featuring Ali Campbell’ element is always barely readable, to deliberately deceive fans, promoters and audiences around the globe, into thinking they are seeing UB40, when in fact it couldn’t be furtherfrom the truth. We have 1000’s of archived examples of this deceptive marketing and Ali’s attempts to pass himself off as UB40.
“When Ali Campbell markets his shows as ‘UB4’ it is damaging to our brand and our business. We have to constantly make it clear to promoters, journalists, editors, that they must differentiate between UB40 and Ali Campbell in order for there to be clarity on what the general public are buying tickets for, to avoid the confusion.
“Most recently, a show in Uganda was marketed and hailed as UB40’s great return to Uganda by the promoters. We were forced to contact the promoters and press, to inform them that UB40 were not performing in Uganda and that it was in fact just ex- vocalist Ali Campbell. False and untrue claims were made by the promoters of Africa Talent Group and marketers even super imposed Ali Campbell’s face on to a current line-up photo of UB40, in a YouTube video. This is just one example- there are constant issues with the way his shows are promoted and it obviously creates confusion.
“It is our right to make our position clear and present the facts, when deliberate attempts are made to misrepresent our brand and confuse people. It is in the public interest to know and clearly understand, when they are buying tickets to see UB40, that they are in fact seeing UB40.
“There are very few examples of bands that have existed for 45 years, without line up changes. Despite Ali Campbell’s history with the band, it doesn’t legitimise his claim to the name. Ali chose to leave UB40 15 years ago. UB40 will continue to tour the world, performing and recording the music they love.”