UB40

The Birmingham band that named itself after the card its members carried to the unemployment office. A group of friends from the city's multiracial neighborhoods formed UB40 in December 1978, taking the name from Unemployment Benefit, Form 40. They played their first show at the Hare & Hounds pub in Kings Heath on February 9, 1979, and titled their 1980 debut album Signing Off. Chrissie Hynde put them on the road with the Pretenders, and Present Arms and UB44 kept the politics sharp. Then Labour of Love, a 1983 set of reggae covers, went to No.1 in the UK and reached No.14 on the Billboard 200 in 1988. A decade later, Promises and Lies gave them a second UK No.1 album.

All three of their UK No.1 singles were covers: Red Red Wine, I Got You Babe with Chrissie Hynde, and (I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You, the Elvis Presley song they recorded for the 1993 movie Sliver. Red Red Wine topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988, and the Presley remake followed it there in 1993. The classic lineup held from 1979 until Ali Campbell left in January 2008. Mickey Virtue followed him out, and Astro left in 2013 to join them in a rival band that now tours as UB40 featuring Ali Campbell. Brian Travers died on August 22, 2021, and Astro died on November 6, 2021. Robin Campbell, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer, and Norman Hassan carry the original band forward with singer Matt Doyle, who joined in 2021. They marked their 45th anniversary with UB45 in 2024.