Meet UB40 [PHOTOS, VIDEOS]
UB40 are a reggae/pop band formed in Birmingham, England in 1978. The band has had more than 50 singles hit the charts in England, and has had several international hits. But what may be most interesting is where the band got its name...
The (8) guys in the band all started out as friends who knew each other from various schools around Birmingham (England). And, its quite an ethnically diverse group, with musicians of English, Scottish, Irish, Yemeni and Jamaican ancestry. Their sound was influenced by the many blues parties that they attended as teenagers in the multicultural Balsall Heath area of Birmingham.
As I have said on-air on New Jersey 101.5, the name UB40 comes from signing the forms for unemployment in England: "Unemployment Benefit, Form 40." And, while that form's designation no longer exists (in that name), all of England still knows what it means...
Brian Travers saved up and bought his first saxophone while working as an electrical apprentice! He would be a founding member of UB40, along with Astro (Terence Wilson) on trumpet and vocals, Jimmy Brown on drums, Ali Campbell on guitar and lead vocals, Robin Campbell on lead guitar and vocals, Earl Falconer on bass guitar, Norman Hassan on percussion, trombone and vocals, and Mickey Virtue on keyboards.
A rarity in the pop music world, this lineup would stay intact for 30 years...
Before some of the band's members had really mastered their instruments, Ali Campbell and Brian Travers promoted the band through their local contacts...and went as far as to put up UB40 posters all over Birmingham! Meanwhille, the band's signature "jazz-dub-reggae" sound (their words) was crafted, and painstakingly perfected, through long jam sessions at many locations all across town.