Forgotten UB40 brother: I was an armed robber and carried a loaded gun in a raid on a a bookies

David Campbell should be a household name. He was the man who could have fronted Brummie chart-toppers UB40 as they conquered the world.

But the Balsall Heath singer – big brother of pop stars Ali, Robin and Duncan – had to turn down their invitation to be the reggae group’s frontman.

He was an armed robber banged up behind bars after a terrifying gunpoint raid on a bookies.

Today, as his warring brothers do battle in the High Court for the rights to the UB40 name, he talks frankly for the first time about his past and hopes for the future – and what he really thinks about his siblings.

Below: David Campbell on his UB40 brothers Ali, Robin and Duncan Campbell

It just so happened that there was an SPG (special patrol group) van full of armed officers literally just round the corner,” recalls David.

“One of the members of staff from the shop was out when we went in – we didn’t realise someone had just popped out.

“He comes back and can’t get back in so of course he raises the alarm, and the armed cops were just two minutes away.

“So that was that.”

The gun, he reveals, had been smuggled into the country from the Continent, like many others used by anarchist groups like the one he was part of.

“We had contacts in the Spanish resistance,” says David. “We knew other anarchists who were involved in stuff, principally the resistance to Franco. There were various anarchist groups around Europe at the time and we were on that network.”

Once jailed, he avoided trouble in Long Lartin and did his best to prepare for life back outside.

“I don’t have any feelings about the way I was treated,” says David. “I accept that’s what you can expect. I wasn’t forced to do anything so you suffer the consequences.

“I don’t think I regard it as a valuable experience being in prison but I got my head down and furthered my education.

What might have been: folk singer David Campbell (Image: Graham Young)
“I made the best use of it that I possibly could and got out on my first application because I behaved myself. I didn’t get into any trouble and studied.”

It was while he was still locked up that potential fame came knocking – and was sent away.

“Robin and Ali came to see me and asked if I wanted to be the singer in the group,” he reveals.

“Everybody who knew Ali thought he would be the singer, but he was only really interested in the drums and bass.

“I said I wasn’t available because I was in prison – and I was going to be there for a couple of years.

“The first time I saw UB40 was when I watched them on Top of the Pops in prison.”

At the end of 1981, David was invited to replace the departed Simon Woods and become the band’s second manager.

“They all knew me, and they all knew they could trust me,” says David.

“I did it for three years which was twice as long as I enjoyed it.

“I was a manager during the day, watching the gigs and then partying with the band afterwards.

“They were long days and it was hard work.

“But UB40 was never my project. I just fell into it.“

The UB40 family

Brothers Robin, Ali, David and Duncan Campbell pictured in 1963 – 16 years before the UB40 story began with the first gig at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on February 9, 1979
The family photo harks back to happier times.

In the garden of their Birmingham home, four brothers stand shoulder to shoulder in 1963.

They would go on to conquer the world before a family feud split them asunder.

David Campbell, ten, is the tall one – back home after having his appendix out ten days earlier.

On the left are the next eldest bother Robin and kid brother Ali, or Alistair as he was named.

Then, on the right, stands Duncan, who is second youngest.

“I would love to sing with all of my brothers,” says David, “although not as UB40.

“I’m a folk singer, not reggae.

“We were really close once. My dominant feeling is sorrow, not anger.”

Just like Ali no longer speaks to his brothers, David admits this his criminal behaviour wasn’t good for their mother, Pat, either.

“Yes. Until this point I could have been characterised as the problem child,” he admits.

“But (unlike Ali) I didn’t fall out with my family. I just did a stupid thing.”

The UB40 feud

UB40 in January, 1985: Left to right (back) Astro, Norman Hassan, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer, Ali Campbell, and left to right (front) Mickey Virtue, Robin Campbell and Brian Travers
David has been watching the feud between brothers Robin and Ali with interest – and says he has been offended by Ali’s attitude.

When Ali left UB40 to pursue a solo career in 2008 older brother Duncan stepped in to save the day.

What nobody had expected, says David, is that the band would not only survive but become stronger.

“I can’t say anything about the original dispute between Ali and the band because I wasn’t there,” he says. “For all I know, that dispute was perfectly legitimate.

UB40 stars Earl Falconer, Jimmy Brown, Norman Hassan, Brian Travers and brothers Duncan and Robin Campbell back at Digbeth’s reopened Eagle and Tun pub (Image: Darren Quinton)
“But the way Ali has behaved since is very distressing. Above all, his attitude towards Duncan is completely offensive.

“Ali had announced his departure but UB40 still had to do some touring they were committed to.

“Several months after he had left, if fortunately occurred to the band that they could ask Duncan to replace him.

“Before Ali left, everyone would have said that he was the one irreplaceable member. He was the face and voice people knew.

“But, lo and behold, Duncan was there and was able to do the job.

“When Duncan started to sing with UB40, he thought he was just doing a holding job so that it would be possible for Ali to come back.

Brian Travers with brothers Robin and Duncan Campbell at the Eagle & Tun pub (Image: Darren Quinton / BirminghamLive)
“We all hoped Ali would have an enormous hit in his own name. If he had, he wouldn’t have felt the need to steal theirs. It is very sad.”

David, who had a three-year spell as UB40’s second manager, has had six children by three women.

Once his two youngest children had left school, he made himself “homeless and unemployed” when he left Lisa, his partner of 25 years.

Thanks to her job with a major record label, he’d been a househusband for 15 years.

After six months of “sofa surfing” in London, Daivid swallowed his pride and returned to Birmingham.

Having spent his own formative years in the Jewellery Quarter, where renowned folk singer father Ian Campbell had been an engraver, it was a homecoming.

Today David rents a modest terraced house in Balsall Heath close to where his siblings grew up. He is delighted to at least be able to walk to work for his minimum wage pot-washing job.

Ian Campbell, pictured at the Hare & Hounds where sons Ali and Robin Campbell played in UB40’s first gig on February 9, 1979
“I’ve been doing this for four or five years so it’s the longest job I’ve had, but it’s not full time,” says David.

“In 2008, when I made myself homeless and unemployed, the chances of me getting any kind of job were bloody slim.

“That’s why I ended up back in Birmingham.”

Today, with several of his own videos on YouTube, David is itching to become a folk star like his dad, Ian Campbell, who died in 2012, 50 years after his1962 EP Ceilidh At The Crown was the country’s first live folk recording.

Having learned to sing in public when his father ran the Jug O’ Punch club in Birmingham, David now wishes he had more confidence to promote himself today.

“I’d love to be out there playing and would probably only need to do two shows a week to cover what I’m earning now washing pots,” he says.

“But I can’t promote myself. I just can’t do it.”

+ The family feud over the UB40 name will be resolved soon after the High Court last week heard the case and reserved its decision.

Ali was sued by Robin and Duncan and four other original members – Brian Travers, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer and Norman Hassan.

The former frontman is currently touring with old bandmates Astro and Mickey Virtue as Ali Campbell’s UB40.

Now 63 years old, and a part-time pot washer, father-of-six David was arrested by armed cops in 1977.

Having been “caught in the act”, he pleaded guilty and was given a seven-year sentence, serving nearly half.

Instead of leading the band, he watched their debut Top Of The Pops performance on a TV in tough Long Lartin prison, near Evesham.

David was part of a gang who, tooled up, rushed into the London bookies and terrorised staff and punters.

David Campbell at home, with a 1963 picture of the four brothers (Image: Graham Young / BirminghamLive)
He was carrying a loaded .38 revolver, although he says now that he does not think he would have fired it.

“I just did a stupid thing,” he says. “There wasn’t any evil intent involved.

“It was just three kids who did a stupid thing. I don’t consider any of us any more responsible than any other, I was 23 at the time.

“Yes, the gun had bullets in it but when the police came in, I wasn’t carrying it anymore.

Long Lartin prison, 2008
“We used them to persuade people and got everyone as we wanted them – lying on the floor, hands tied – and then put them away.

“We’d put the guns into a bag to be removed when the police burst in, so I wasn’t actually armed at that point.

“If I’d still been holding it, would I have started shooting? I don’t know.

“The point was it wasn’t the intention to shoot and we had demonstrated that.

“Once they had been used, they had been put away.”

Folk singer David Campbell reflects on his life (Image: Graham Young / BirminghamLive)
Police were on the scene almost immediately because there had been a van full of cops nearby – and an employee raised the alarm.