“We were absolutely stupid and had no idea what we were doing,” says UB40’s lead singer Ali Campbell of his reggae band’s beginnings.

UB40 sold 70 million records as they took their smooth yet rootsy musical blend to all corners of the globe. Now lead singer Ali Campbell’s UB40 bring their unmistakable sound to a few summer festivals around England this year.

That’s apart from a constant supply of gigs from around the globe, as Ali explains.

“We’re a festival band and I’ve been playing all year. In January, we went to Hawaii, and in 30 days, we circumnavigated the earth, playing big open-air gigs and selling them out as well. Then we went off to Australia and New Zealand before doing the South Pacific. In Vanuatu, we had to escape a cyclone the next day after the gig, as we wouldn’t have got to India where we were going next. Then it was on to Bombay, Uganda and Chile. A total of 15 shows were the best I think I’ve ever done and some of the best responses I’ve ever had. Then we came back and did some British shows which were fantastic. There were also A few other places, and I’ve just returned from Barbados, which was wonderful.”

“I don’t consider it work”, Ali enthuses. “I consider it fun as I’m out on the road with like-minded people, great mates and fantastic players. I’m at a level where I’ve got great gigs and lovely hotels. It’s a wonderful life I’m living.”

There’s clearly a lot of love for UB40 40 years on. Even more remarkable because I guess it’s the children of their original fans who come along and join them I put to him.

“And grandchildren believe it or not. We started in 1980 when we were 19 years old and we’ve been doing it ever since so people have grown up with us as their soundtrack. And we did have 40 top 20 hits through the 80s and 90s and we were very fortunate that we chose and loved reggae. We chose that as our musical genre and it was the youngest musical genre around at the time and reggae was only 11 years old or something. Before that, it was rock steady, and before that, it was ska. Before that, it was bebop, so we had the youngest musical form to promote, and we are still doing that, and it keeps us still digging into it. Reggae is the most influential music on contemporary pop and dance music. You wouldn’t have hip-hop without reggae.”

“Everything we are listening to now, including most dance forms, comes from production techniques that come from reggae. King Tubby and producer Joe Gibbs are the people who invented it. You wouldn’t have The Police, who weren’t a reggae band but a dub rock band, and you wouldn’t have got the whole drum and base movement that came from dub. So that’s why I still think the good music still keeps us digging, and it’s still such a massive influence on contemporary music.”

“When we all started, the most ridiculous thing was that we couldn’t play any instruments and we were all on the dole and like a gang. We formed a union but kept being thrown out of the DHSS office for harassing the staff. So then we became a band and to that we basically had to steal our instruments and then learn how to play them. We did that in six months, and then we made our first album, “Signing Off” because we were signing off. That went on to sell eight million copies. It’s ridiculous because if you look at “Kind Of Blue” which is the biggest selling jazz album of all time with Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, that sold six million. So our first experiment in music, which was all out of tune and everything else, outsold the biggest-selling jazz album of all time. Which still makes me wonder what the hell is going on.”

When UB40 exploded on the UK charts in 1980, their first four chart successes were all double A-sides. I asked him why they decided to do that.

Now, over 70 million records are sold worldwide; I put it to Ali that it must have surpassed all their expectations on how well the group would be. “Bootlegged as well and we were the first group to play in Russia with a run of gigs. They reckoned that every other house had a bootlegged copy of “Rat In Ma Kitchen”. It was about 100 million units that we distributed over a period of 28 years.”

Ali Campbell and Astro in their early days

Ali split from his brother and left the band in 2008. Five years later, he teamed up with Astro, who decided to follow suit at that time. Ali explains the reasons behind his decision to leave the band at that time.

“What happened was I did a second solo album called “Running Free”. My first solo album I didn’t promote at all and everybody thought I was crazy not promoting it at the time. I wasn’t going to leave UB40; I just gave the record company a solo effort so they could promote it. So when it came to the second album, I checked, and we had a clear month free. As it went into the charts at no.9 I told the guys this time I’m going to promote it.”

“And they wouldn’t let me! So I said, well, I’m doing it, so that was me leaving the band.”

“There were people stirring and meetings going on behind my back because I was living down in Dorset then. So it was all very silly and unnecessary as I’d been with them for 28 years through 24 albums. But they wouldn’t let me do what I wanted to do and I wasn’t having that. It was my band initially and then I get these accountants telling me what I can or can’t do. So I told them I was leaving but I don’t think they thought I would. But I did and I had a great time of it.”

“My first show was at the Albert Hall and I had Sly & Robbie as well as my own backing band of which we made a great CD which I still like watching. I had lots of guests on it like Bitty McLean, Pato Banton, Kim Wilde and even a choir. It was really good fun. And then I started doing little tours, and it was very much like starting all over again, in a way.”

“When Astro decided he didn’t want to be with the old guys anymore because they did a country-inspired album called “Getting Over The Storm”. It featured steel guitars, and he couldn’t be part of that, so he left and came on my side. So there were three of us from UB40 with Mickey Virtue and myself, so off we went. And it was brilliant for eight years until Astro passed away. Mickey then left because he had enough of touring and he wanted to spend more time with his wife in Spain.”

“So that leaves just me with my band which I think is the hottest reggae band in the world. Frank Benbini (who was the drummer from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals) is my ‘G’ man as well as a percussionist and a fantastic addition to the show and, in my opinion, one of the best responses we’ve ever had. So yes, long it may continue.”

With their festival appearances in June, let’s hope we get better weather this year. “Well, that’s something we can’t really do anything about, really”, says Ali. “I was on my favourite island in Hawaii, Maui a few years ago and it snowed on Main Street. They had never seen it, only on the one mountain there so they couldn’t believe it. The climate change all over the world is very, very real.”

Some exciting news on the horizon for his fans is that Ali is about to release an anthology of his previous hits and couldn’t be more upbeat.

“Well, I think I’ve reached an age now where I want to leave a legacy album of about 54 tracks of songs that I’m proud of, which weren’t necessarily hits of UB40 and my own solo stuff. Songs that I’ve produced and had more to do with. I have to convince Universal Records to release it so I’d like to call it “Universal Reggae” because that’s what it is.

Any favourite songs that stand out I ask him? Ali chuckles. “You’ll have to wait and buy the anthology to find out.”

Ali confesses to me, “because we were absolutely stupid and had no idea what we were doing.”

“In hindsight, that would have been eight top tens? We were all about fans getting into our gigs at half price if you had a UB40 card right? We’d all been living on £7.90 a week for three years and we were the real deal. Disenfranchised due to Britain. So we meant what we saying and what we were singing about and didn’t want to exploit people. We obviously wanted to pay the rent and make a profit but we didn’t want to slay everybody so we were involved in a lot of things.”

“So, not good business moves, but then we were socialists and did not think about the business.”

Their first hit in 1980 was “King” (which was doubled with “Food For Thought”) written by Trinidadian singer and songwriter Lord Creator who also wrote another big hit for them years later with “Kingston Town”.

“Unfortunately, we’ve just lost the Jamaican man, and he was a lovely guy, and we did get to meet him. When I was in Jamaica, he came to see me off at the airport, and he brought his family with him. All his children and grandchildren all dressed up in their Sunday best and we were really moved by it. A definite lip wobbling moment I can tell you. He said I want to thank you guys for what you did by recording my song. He said that he was in hospital and couldn’t afford my hospital bills. Then, when you did my song, I paid those bills, and I built this house. He then proceeded to show me pictures of his beautiful house that looked like a fairy castle. We were so touched by that and thought it lovely.”

Kentrick Patrick, aka Lord Creator, never needed to worry again. Ten years later, UB40 covered another of his songs (“Kingston Town”), which climbed to no.4 in the charts.

UB40’s first No.1 was a cover of a Neil Diamond song “Red Red Wine” in 1983. Did Neil Diamond ever say what he thought of their version I asked him. “Personally I’ve never met him. He does a reggae version on his show so that says it all to me plus a bit of rap comes out. ‘Red red wine makes me feel so good even if the words aren’t understood’ (Ali laughs). Of course, that was a massive hit for us twice, you know. It went to no.1 all over the world in 1983 and then it went to no.1 in America five years later. It had two lives and was a million-seller, and we were very happy with that.”

“When it said ‘N.Diamond’ for publishing, we thought that it must be Nero or Neville Diamond or something. Nobody was more surprised than us to find out it was a Neil Diamond song because we knew it as a Tony Tribe ska classic.”

Between 1983 and 1998, the group produced three ‘Labour Of Love’ albums, bringing hits such as Eric Donaldson’s ‘Cherry Oh Baby’, Lord Creator’s ‘Kingston Town’ and Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Come Back Darling’ to a new, global audience.

Ali with Chrissie

Their second no.1 was “I Got You Babe”, which was also a chart-topper some 20 years earlier. Having toured with the Pretenders in the band’s early career, whose choice was to have Chrissie Hynde duet with him on the track.

“She keeps saying it was her idea to do that song, but the first record I ever owned at 5 years old, which my mother bought me, was “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher. It was the first record I ever owned, so it was big news if you know what I mean. I remember that record growing up.”

“It was Chrissie who gave us our first big break and took us on tour when she was at no.1 with “Brass In Pocket”. It was ideal for us then when she came up with the idea of let’s make a song, I said it was a brilliant idea. Immediately I said “I Got You Babe” because it was my first record and she agreed it was a brilliant idea. However, her original idea was a song called “Let’s Make A Baby”, which I didn’t want to do a song with ‘Auntie’ Chrissie, if you know what I mean” (laughs Ali).

“So we did that version, and later on, we did our version of Susan Cadagon’s “Breakfast In Bed”, which was a big hit for us as well. She’s either mistaken or downright lying when she says she chose that song (Ali laughs). We’ve been having this debate a long time, in fact, since we did it, actually.”