Performance

Monthly Listeners

Current

Followers

Current

Streams

Current

Tracks

Current

Popularity

Current

Top Releases

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The Very Best Of

946.3M streams

946,298,040

Essential

881.6M streams

881,607,147

The Best Of UB40 Volume I

693M streams

692,968,973

Labour Of Love II

462.4M streams

462,395,160

5 Album Set

284.3M streams

284,346,161

Labour Of Love

165.5M streams

165,489,524

Promises And Lies

69.9M streams

69,920,623

Signing Off (Deluxe)

69.6M streams

69,562,266

Signing Off

63.7M streams

63,696,195

The UB40 File

59.2M streams

59,153,905

Biography

The story of UB40, and how this group of young friends from Birmingham transcended their working-class origins to become the world’s most successful reggae band, selling over 100 million records and spending over a combined 11 years in the UK album charts, is not the stuff of fairytales as might be imagined. The group’s led a charmed life in many respects it’s true, but it’s been a long haul since the days they’d meet up in the bars and clubs around Moseley, and some of them had to scrape by on less than £8 a week unemployment benefit. The choice was simple if you’d left school early. You could either work in one of the local factories, like Robin Campbell did, or scuffle along aimlessly whilst waiting for something else to happen.

 By the summer of 1978, something else did happen, and the nucleus of UB40 began rehearsing in a local basement. Robin’s younger brother Ali, Earl Falconer, Brian Travers and James Brown all knew each other from Moseley School of Art, whilst Norman Hassan had been a friend of the Campbells since junior school. Their line-up would remain unchanged for thirty years. In 2021 the band welcomed Matt Doyle as the new lead singer, replacing Duncan Campbell, who had previously replaced Ali Campbell in 2008.