Brummie Ali Campbell talks about his love of music, touring and being in a band

He’s been through a lot in the last decade. Ali Campbell left the band he set up at the age of 19 due to management issues back in 2008; his own brothers took him to court, and he was forced to declare himself bankrupt.

But UB40 icon Ali is finally back on top – and is set to release a new album on March 2, aptly named A Real Labour of Love. This has been created by Ali’s reincarnation of the band titled UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey.

The 58-year-old Brummie reggae legend is also gearing up for a series of festival appearances this year, followed by a string of arena dates in 2019 – which Ali says will ‘definitely’ be coming to Brum.

The new album captures a range of music UB40 listened to while on the road, as well as some Ali says ‘moved Jamaica’ during the time he was living on the Caribbean island. Artists whose songs are covered on the release include Beres Hammond, JC Lodge and Culture.

While with the formerly united band, Ali released three Labour of Love albums, all of which he says saw the group cover music they listened to ‘from the age of 10’.

“It’s been a while. People kept saying ‘you should do another one’, so we did,” explains the frontman.

“It’s been lovely actually; a real delight.

“To go into the studio and play our versions of these great songs, it truly has been a labour of love.

“This one mainly focusses on music from the 80s. They’re all massive hits from the world of reggae.

“Because we knew them so well, knowing the basslines and such already, and often using the same key, everything was largely done for us. We just had to record our own versions. They’re old songs, but we’ve given them a modern feel using Pro Tools. The songs are all classics.

“The first albums were covers of music we grew up listening to from the age of 10. This latest one uses songs we listened to when we were on the road.

“The 80s were a great time. I lived in Jamaica back then.

“Some of these songs are ones that were massive in Jamaica, but no one had heard over here. Even some of the band hadn’t heard some of them.

“When Jamaica takes a track on, the whole population does – from the young kids to the elderly. You always know when a hit comes on because everyone gets up and dances.

“I remember General Degree performing on a school programme and when he played Bodyguard – a song of his – all the children were singing along. This was an infant school too. It’s just amazing.

“There are all sorts of tracks that moved Jamaica. And I’m lucky enough to have spent time there and experienced it. I lived in Jamaica for 17 years, on and off. I had my own home there for seven years and built a studio out there. That’s when I became privy to all of this fabulous music.

“Everybody who loves reggae will know this music.

“The whole band loves it. It’s the best thing we’ve done in 25 years. And everyone who’s heard the album says the same.

“You’re always only as good as your last album, so you have to go and convince people.

“The fans are going to love it.”

Though the group clearly had a great time recording A Real Labour of Love, the album is also tinged with sadness as it was the ‘swansong’ of trombonist John Johnson.

The musician, who formerly played with Simply Red, joined forces with Ali seven years ago. John played on the album, but died of cancer the night before the rest of the group were due to play a benefit concert to raise money for stem cell research. As such, the album is dedicated to him.

“The death of John Johnson massively affected the band,” explains Ali.

“He’d been on the road with me for seven years. He became a brother. We’re a very close-knit band, so it hurt us all.

“He’ll be very much missed. He was a great bloke as well as a great player.

“What’s weird is that he was the fittest bloke I’ve ever known. He was a fitness fanatic. He was 50, but he had the body of a 25 year old.

“Then it suddenly gets him. It’s terrible.

“He was ill for 18 months. He had stomach cramps and things, and had medical appointments, but continued to tour with us.

“It was really quick when he went.

“We were going to be doing a benefit for him to raise funds for stem cell research.

“None of us knew this was going to be his swansong, but unfortunately it was. So the album does have that element to it.

“We’re headlining The Royal Albert Hall on March 19 with lots of guests for The Teenage Cancer Trust.

“Not that he was a teenager – he just had the body of one.”

Though reggae was first brought to the world stage by Bob Marley and The Wailers back in the 70s, Ali says he is proud to be an ‘ambassador’ for the genre – and that it’s ‘more influential now than ever’.

“People say reggae has had its day, but all the hits have reggae beats at the moment, from people such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande,” says Ali.

“It’s great for us because we’ve been able to watch it happen.

“All the dance music is based on it.

“We should be the most popular band in the world because everyone is now using reggae.

“It’s more influential now than ever. Reggae beats are permeating music all across the board.

“And it’s across the world, as all over the globe people are listening to the same music nowadays.

“As for new reggae acts, I love Raging Fyah – a new band from Jamaica. They’ve actually got two albums now. We had them support us on a tour of the US and UK.

“We’ve been promoting them because they’re a bunch of young kids in their 20s, yet they’re playing roots-rock reggae with a nice message.”

Ali stressed the importance of the return of ‘concious lyrics’ in reggae, and stated some hip-hop with negative wording has even influenced society to ‘self-segregate’ – something he believes the strong message of reggae can help overcome.

“The music industry is now getting away from gangsta c**p. Lyrics like that are now old fashioned,” he adds.

“Artists like Chronixx and The Prodigy are also examples.

“It’s a great thing for us to see.

“Some of the music a few years ago was great, but had awful lyrics.

“In England, there has been self-imposed segregation which has come from the influence of hip-hop, with postcode gangs.

“In the 80s, if you went to Balsall Heath where I’m from, the groups of kids looked like UB40, made up of all ethnicities.

“But now, it’s gone a bit the other way, which is very sad.

“Reggae is there to counteract all this. It’s about peace, love and unity.

“All across the world there are people who love reggae. It’s a global movement.

“The fans don’t even have to speak the same language – the beats say it all.”

After years of what Ali calls a ‘big attack’ on him from his brothers’ band – which he dubs ‘The Dark Side’ – the fighting appears to have ceased, for the time being at least, with Ali saying they are ‘just ignoring them and of hoping they’ll go away’.

“All we were trying to do was protect ourselves,” explains Ali.

“We’ve not heard from them for a while, so we think they may have run out of money. The only people benefitting from the whole thing were the lawyers anyway. And they didn’t have a leg to stand on.

“They’ve stopped attacking us for the time being.

“Our fans have stayed with us through all the years. But what happened when I left the group – my own band – because of management issues, The Dark Side split some of the fans with their smear campaign against us.

“It’s the reason I wrote Cyber Bully Boy.

“It was all very nasty.

“But that’s all in the past now.

“We didn’t want to air our dirty laundry in public in the first place, but there you are.

“They don’t have any of the original singers. They’re more like a karaoke band. They’re an embarrassment.

“They are ruining the legacy of the band I started in 1979.

“You only need to Google them and it’s like, ‘really?’”

After growing up in Balsall Heath and owning his first home in same Birmingham district, Ali now lives in a quiet area of Dorset with a beach view from his bedroom.

The star says due to his constant touring he likes the ability to return home to peace and quiet – though moving to London may be on the cards.

“We can see the needles of the Isle of Wight from our house,” he says.

“We’re just a few rows away from the beach. I can see the sea from my bedroom.

“We’ve been here for about a decade and I love it.

“We’ll probably move again, maybe to London. I spend a lot of time there, so it would be easier.

“The kids are grown up now, so they don’t want to be stuck in.

“Ninety per cent of the population where we live are over 75.

“I spend a lot of time on the road, so I like to come home to the quiet, but I also have to think about my wife being stuck here.

“My wife’s a Cockney as well. I only really go back to Birmingham for shows, I don’t get there very often.

“I’m out of the country most of the time. Since Astro rejoined us, we’ve been on the road solidly.”

As a band, UB40 are ‘the biggest-touring band in UK pop history,’ adds Ali. And this is something he has no intention of changing any time soon, explaining that for him, ‘it’s not a job, it’s a way of life’.

“I love touring because I have the best job in the world, travelling around,” says Ali.

“We tour very comfortably; business class and five-star hotels.

“I got sick of touring and stopped for around eight years, but found I really missed it. It’s not a job, it’s a way of life. It’s what we do.

“The bankruptcy ended four years ago. We’ve been up and running since all that.

“We’ve been travelling comfortably since the end of the 80s. We’ve been very, very lucky.

“We only did about 12 shows before Chrissie Hynde found us. We then went on tour with The Pretenders, then released a single which went to number four.

“We also sold so many CDs back in the day.

“We’re the fifth biggest-selling band in UK pop history and the biggest touring band in UK pop history. But then we’re lucky, because our music went worldwide.

“We love being in the South Pacific.

“We also did a Red, Red Wine tour in New Zealand. It started out as a joke to begin with, but I had the best time ever and we broke all attendance records. So we want to try and maybe do that again in some of the other wine countries.

“We were in Antigua before Christmas making a movie to encourage people to go back to the Caribbean after the hurricanes.

“The prime minister met us there and invited us to do some shows.

“We spent New Year in Turks and Caicos and had a fabulous time with all the famous Davids of the world . . . David Beckham, David Walliams . . . I don’t know why, but they were all there.

“And we’ve just come back from The Middle East.

“We don’t stop. We come home, have a week off and go again. We’re now back in the UK to promote the new album.

“On the arena tours in 2019, we’ll definitely be coming to Birmingham.

“This year we’re doing mostly festivals. We’re doing the UK and Europe, then spend time on the West Coast of America doing state fairs and festivals.”

Despite having been across the globe, Ali still has some aspirations: “I told our manager I wanted to do a revue in Las Vegas, but then The Who started doing it. He manages them as well, so make of that what you will,” chuckles Ali.

“There’s never been a reggae revue in Vegas before, so it would be really fun to do it.

“It would be so great to do a residency being an ambassador for reggae, the love of my life.”

• UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey will also play BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend in Coventry on May 27.