UB40 is a reggae band. The eight members were born and brought up in central Birmingham, where reggae was the music that dominated their social life. The Band was formed in the summer of 1978, and has settled into the present line-up.

In 1977, Ali received a Criminal Injuries Compensation payment for an attack he'd suffered on his 17th birthday, a year earlier, and bought a drum kit. He soon turned to guitar - an old wreck, rebuilt by Earl, who also got hold of a bass guitar for himself, and Jim, started to learn the drums. Earl and Ali played in those days through a single 15 watt amp. Brian already had a sax, but learnt to play only when it was decided to form a band.

All of the group had known one another for some time before they began playing together seriously. Ali, Brian, James and Earl had all been together at Moseley School Of Art. When the four began looking for potential musicians to form UB40, Ali quickly unearthed a guitarist in his elder brother Robin. Robin knew some chords so Ali asked him to join. Ali also wanted Duncan (Ali's and Robin's brother) in the line-up because he was such a good singer. But Duncan wasn't interested. At the first rehearsals Ali and his friends wouldn't listen and just wanted to make a ridiculous noise, at that point Robin left the band. Norman, a friend of the Campbells did join. After three more months or rehearsing Ali told Robin that the band could play. Robin was astonised after hearing them and he decided to rejoin the band.

During the early summer of 1978 UB40 practised at Cannon Hill Arts Centre, all of them travelling there in one mini. The band at that time comprised of Ali, Brian, James, Norman, Earl and Robin - plus two others, Jimmy Lynn (keyboards) and Timi Tupe "Yomi" Abayomi Babayemi (percussion). Lynn left within a couple of months being replaced by Mikey (the brother of Ali's girlfriend). From August '78 to January '79 UB40 rehearsed in the cellar of 106 Trafalgar Road. Earl had a flat at 106, so did Brian (next door). James and Ali were both living at Ali's Moms, in Moseley, at the time. Duncan offered them his flat at 212 Showell Green Lane as he was moving down to Bournemouth. Ali and James moved there in September '78.

Ray "Pablo" Falconer (Earl's brother), who had been living with his parents at St. Benedicts Road in Small Heath, moved in with Brian at the Trafalgar Road residence. However Traf' Road was now in decline and by February '79 none of the band lived there. It had been a good enough home and had certainly witnessed the early growth and development of the band. Brian had vacated around Christmas '78 - moving back to his folks. Ray stayed on for a few weeks but eventually moved into Showell Green Lane with Ali and James. Earl had moved to a flat in College Road, Moseley. The flat had formerly been occupied by a friend of his.... unfortunately the landlord didn't want to know so Earl found himself residing at the attic at Showell Green Lane.

The first public gig
Shortly after this period of domestic upheaval (February 9th 1979 to be exact) UB40 played their first gig, Suzy Varty's birthday party, at The Hare & Hounds public house in Kings Heath (a mile or so up the main road from Moseley). They shared the gig with other local groups The Au Pairs, The Denizens and Pretty Faces. UB40's early repetoire consisted of cover versions of some of their favourite reggae sounds from the early 70s, together with their own instrumental compositions. All the lads are of the opinion that it was an awful gig.... After only one more live date, supporting Iganda at Birmingham University, Yomi was returned to Nigeria by the immigration authorities.

One person who was there the night of February 9th 1979 and realised the potential of UB40 was Simon Woods (ex-encyclopedia salesman later to become UB40s manager). Simon was based in London but frequently came up to see the band. His visits became so frequent that he moved to Birmingham - taking over Brians old flat in Trafalgar Road..... it wasn't long before Simon was drawn like a pin to the magnetic force of Showell Green Lane.

The downstairs front room of the house became the rehearsal studio for the band. It was ideal for James, Earl, Ray and Simon - they could just roll out of bed and make music. Robin lived in College Road - which is only just around the corner - so he had no difficulty getting to rehearsals. Norman and Mikey, on the other hand, both lived quite far off. Norman was away over in Northfield while Mikey lived in Edgbaston (Mikey had joined the band during the latter part of 1978).

The house at 212 Showell Green Lane saw UB40s birth as a professional band - they practised almost unceasingly, they had a manager and they were playing plenty of gigs in and around Birmingham (at Fighting Cocks in Moseley, Mount Pleasant Community Centre and New Inn on Moseley Road). UB40 was the first band to play at the "New Inn", on Moseley Road, and played there three times during the pubs's period as a regular live venue. It was one of those gigs that Astro (Terence Wilson) first saw them. UB40 played at Norton Hall, Nechells... Astro was there... and was invited back to the house after the show - in no time at all he was added to the UB40 line-up and the band was complete.

Astro used to play at the Birmingham reggae discos with his Duke Alloy sound system. Ali had previously worked with Astro for seven weeks at Cadbury's chocolate factory. At first Astro's role was limited to encouraging the audiences to dance, but he was soon acting as compere and providing voice-overs on some of their extended numbers. At most venues the room was crowded far beyond capacity , the band had already outgrown the local pub circuit. During the summer of 1979 they were also involved with the Saltley and Moseley Festivals and with various Rock Against Racism benefits.

Signing off
Four demo tapes were recorded. The group and their manager turned to local producer Bob Lamb to supervise their latest demo recording. Lamb had been a member of Locomotive, a Birmingham reggae band who made the charts in 1968 with "Rudi's In Love", and had since built his own small eight-track studio in Moseley, which was also the bed-sitter in which he lived. The demos were enough to interest several influential radio DJs. Robin Valk broadcasted demos on his BRMB show, which impressed John Peel enough to arrange a Radio One session, recorded December 12th and 18th, 1979 and first broadcasted January 2nd, 1980. The band also appeared on the television for the first time, on the short-lived arts magazine "Mainstream".

After this things began to move fast. UB40 had only played about thirty gigs, when Chrissie Hynde checked their concerts in London (Dingwell's and The Rock Garden) and offered them a support slot on The Pretenders 1979/80 British Tour. Despite major label interests, the band signs to Graduate Records (on December 3, 1979), run by David and Susan Virr from their record shop in Dudley, Worcs., UK. They negotiated with Graduate, the first people to show interest in them, and got the terms they wanted as well as complete artistic control. The deal gave them total control but no advance monies - resulting in debts at the outset of their career. Signing off the dole in the winter of 1979, they turned professional by recording their first single "King / Food For Thought". During that time, the band did a lot of work outside Birmingham and particularly in London. It was at Dingwall's and the Rock Garden that Chrissie Hynde saw them, inviting the band to support The Pretenders tour in Britain.

While they were on the road the single was released (February 1st, 1980) and it went to Number 4. "King / Food For Thought" was the first ever single to reach the National Top Ten without the backing of a major record company. It was the start of their career. Not a bad one either, a 400,000-selling single. UB40 worked on average every other night of that year, had three top ten hit singles, and released the successful album "Signing Off" on Graduate Records. Their contract with Graduate expired in December 1980 and they started to record for their own company DEP International. The rest is history....

This story is a summary of various articles.