Question 1

Who writes UB40's songs?

Accepted Answer

The whole band, together. Every original the group recorded carries a single credit for all of them, so Robin Campbell, Earl Falconer, Brian Travers, Jimmy Brown and Norman Hassan each appear on 148 of the 224 album tracks. No member holds a song of their own.

Question 2

Who wrote "Red Red Wine"?

Accepted Answer

Neil Diamond, in 1967. UB40's version is a cover, and it reached number 1 on the Hot 100 in 1988.

Question 3

Did UB40 write their biggest hits?

Accepted Answer

Mostly not. "Red Red Wine", "I Got You Babe", "Kingston Town" and "Can't Help Falling in Love" are all covers. The songs they wrote themselves, like "One in Ten" and "Food for Thought", were hits in Britain rather than America.

Question 4

What are the Labour of Love albums?

Accepted Answer

Four albums of reggae and soul covers released between 1983 and 2010. None of them carries a UB40 writing credit.

Question 5

How many albums did UB40 release?

Accepted Answer

Nineteen studio albums with published track listings, between 1980 and 2019. Bigga Baggariddim and UB45 have no published track credits, so they are not included here.

Question 6

Why does one album have no writers at all?

Accepted Answer

Labour of Love III lists only the original artist of each cover, and neither Discogs nor MusicBrainz publishes the songwriters. It is marked unverified with a note.

Question 7

How well did they sell?

Accepted Answer

More than 100 million records worldwide, with more than 50 entries on the UK singles chart.

Question 8

Did UB40 win a Grammy?

Accepted Answer

No. They were nominated four times for Best Reggae Album, and once for the Brit Award for Best British Group in 1984.

Question 9

What happened to Ali Campbell?

Accepted Answer

He sang lead from 1978 until 2008 and then left. Duncan Campbell took the job from 2008 to 2021.

Question 10

Where does the name come from?

Accepted Answer

The UB40 was the British unemployment benefit form, which the band members were all claiming when they started in Birmingham in 1978.