UNITED KINGDOM: BIRMINGHAM'S UB40 CELEBRATE 21 YEARS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS WITH A ONE-OFF HOME TOWN CONCERT

Record ID: 392040

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: BIRMINGHAM'S UB40 CELEBRATE 21 YEARS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS WITH A ONE-OFF HOME TOWN CONCERT
  • Date: 13th September 2001
  • Summary: BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 13, 2001) (REUTERS) WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE, PAN OF UB40 (2 SHOTS) SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBIN CAMPBELL SAYING: "We didn't have any of the problems that bands generally have where a bunch of egos come together and try to make music, and then fall out. When our egos take over there are seven other guys to keep us on the ground. A
  • Embargoed: 28th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA50IYA18IO1E4QKP2OMR0BS1BW
  • Story Text: British reggae band, UB40, rocked its home crowd of Birmingham on Thursday night (September 13), as it celebrated 21 years in the music business. The proceeds of the one-off concert, and its soon-to-be-released single, will go to the United Nations Development Programme to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana.
    After 21 years in the music business, UB40 can still perform with its original line-up. The eight lads from Birmingham who started out as friends who simply wanted to start a band, 21 years later are Britain's greatest ambassadors of reggae.
    They formed in 1978, but in 1980, UB40 released their first long-player, "Signing Off," and soon will have released 20 albums, including "Cover Up", the title track of which is the single they've penned to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, and raise money for the United Nations Development Programme in Botswana.
    Botswana has the highest HIV infection rate, with between 28% and 36% of its adults HIV positive.
    There are 24.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. And after all those years, and having sold over 50 million albums, they're still great mates something they believe is a major factor in their longevity that they were friends first.
    "We didn't have any of the problems that bands generally have where a bunch of egos come together and try to make music, and then fall out. When our egos take over there are seven other guys to keep us on the ground. And anyway, they do whatever I tell them," said Robin Campbell, UB40 guitarist.
    Like many bands who've survived in the music industry for so long, and created their own unique sound, the members of UB40 have little complimentary to say about the proliferation of manufactured pop acts that are currently in the charts.
    However, they recognise that musicians today find it much harder to get a start, with few clubs investing in live music.
    Brian Travers, the band's saxophonist, remembers what it was like for them in their early days.
    "When we started, most bands could play seven nights a week in any town, anywhere or doubles - you could do two in a night quite easily...(in doing that) you have a chance to be bad before you get good, and see where you're failing."
    Drummer James Brown agreed.
    "The people that run those venues realise that they can pay a lot less money to a DJ and it's a lot less mess and they don't have to get a P.A in, and they get the same result for the punters that go into the club. So they just pay DJs instead of paying bands."
    The Pretenders singer, Chrissie Hynde, has collaborated with UB40 on a number of occasions, including "Breakfast in Bed" and "I Got You Babe,"
    which was a world-wide number one hit. The Pretenders will be supporting the band on its tour this coming Autumn. But, as Hynde recalls, when their artistic partnership began in 1980, it was quite a different story.
    "We did our first tour together, 20-21 years ago? When I, humbly, asked them if they would support my band, The Pretenders, when we had our first, and last, number one out. And then of course, next month we go out with them and we'll be supporting them. Lo, how the mighty have fallen!"
    Nevertheless, Hynde is still a much-valued addition to the line-up, and was much appreciated by the nearly packed house at UB40's 21st anniversary concert in Birmingham.
    During that concert, the band made special mention of their up-coming single, written especially to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, called "Cover up."
    Percussionist Norman Hassan says the title of the song is a play-on-words, since it is about wearing a condom, but also about that fact the AIDS problem in Africa is often swept under the carpet.
    The net proceeds from the concert will also go towards U.N-funded AIDS programmes, but also to an AIDS charity in England's Midlands.
    Already the band has raised $75,000 dollars for the U.N.
    Macharia Kamau, from the United Nations Development Programme in Botswana, says the U.N tries to target artists to promote their message who have a social conscience, and who people especially children can identify with. Kamau says music is especially good at reaching and educating the public.
    "It's a great medium, it speaks to people in a powerful way. Especially when it's in the hands of someone who can craft it, the words, the lyrics, the music. For people it's also easily accessible. You don't have to be terribly wealthy to listen to music. So in many, many ways it's become the literature of the poor," Kamau said.
    Astro, who plays the toaster and provides vocals, says they were only too happy to help.
    "It's (AIDS) not isolated to any one country, it could quite easily affect my family or anyone I know. When you understand that half a million children a year contract AIDS, it's just something that isn't going to go away and people need to be made aware of how deadly a thing this is and how it's a global issue," he said.
    "Cover Up" is due to be released at the end of October.
    Vocalist, Ali Campbell, says the band has learnt something new with each album they've made, and looking back, makes no excuses for what they were like when they formed in 1978, saying then they were "crap."
    However, he says after all those years and those albums, they've vastly improved.
    "We're more competent. We're using different technology.
    When we started it was before videos, and it was before samplers, it was before horses and carts, wasn't it? You know, we've been going a long time and things change very rapidly as far as technology goes. It's a tradition in reggae music to be on the cutting edge of technology and yeah, so we're still there."
    Soon they hope to release "Fathers", a collaboration with UB40s reggae heroes - where those who inspired the young members of UB40 to pick up their instruments, will sing their songs. It'll feature Jamaican musicians like John Holt, Gregory Isaacs, Toots Hibbert and Ken Boothe.
    Ali Campbell said it's like a reverse of "Labour of Love,"
    where UB40 sang reggae-arranged covers of others' songs.
    "Labour of Love" stayed in the UK charts for 18 months, and it's hoped this album will be just as popular, possibly even adding another hit to UB40's tally of 37 top 40 hits.
    "So that's where we're at at the moment. Now after 21 years we're finally playing with our heroes, so we're not going away, we've just started!"
    --
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