After singing about “red red wine” for almost 34 years, UB40 founding members Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue finally have a wine they can call their own — literally. Eminent Life, an English company that specializes in limited-edition products created in association with “legendary artists,” has produced 10,000 bottles of Red Red Wine UB40 Bordeaux Superieur.
UB40
Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey
Where: Blaisdell Arena
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $69-$249
Info: ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000
“It’s our own bottle of red red wine,” Astro said, taking the call from a hotel room in Perth, Australia on Jan. 9. He described the group’s namesake Bordeaux as “a blend of cabernet franc and merlot grapes,” adding, “It’s just beautiful. It’s so quaffable.” (For more information, visit eminent-life.com.)
The group — officially they are UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey — had just arrived in Australia after playing four dates in New Zealand. They’re stopping in Honolulu this weekend for a one-nighter in Blaisdell Arena on Saturday on the way back to the U.K.
The group was here in January, 2016, too, and fans here may hope that having UB40 play the Blaisdell in January will become an annual tradition.
“We’d love it to be an annual thing,” Astro said, adding the group needs someone to “invite them.”
“(The tour) is going great so far. … The weather’s fabulous,” he continued. “We just left New Zealand after doing four shows in wineries as part of the ‘Red Red Winery’ tour that we were doing. We started the day after Boxing Day. We were on the plane out to New Zealand. What a great way to start the year, and the icing on the cake, obviously, is ending up in Hawaii.”
Hawaii can expect to hear “as many hits that we can cram into two hours,” Astro said. “We’ll also be playing some stuff off our current album, ‘Silhouette,’ and always going to be loads of favorites. We’re lucky enough to have had over 40 Top 10 hits, so we can go anywhere and people are going to know every single song. That’s a blessing. It’s great to have that kind of arsenal at your disposal.”
Continuing success
The trio might also slip in a few songs from their new double album. “Unplugged,” released in November, has 20 newly recorded acoustic arrangements of some of the group’s biggest hits, including a new version of “I Got You Babe” that has Campbell’s daughter, Kaya Campbell, singing in place of Chrissie Hynde. The second disc has 20 of UB40’s greatest hits.
In short, the trio has gone from success to success since Astro joined Campbell and Virtue to create UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey in 2014. They use that elaborate billing for legal reasons and to distinguish their group from that of the other members of the original UB40 group who perform using the original name.
UB40 was founded in December 1978 in Birmingham, England, by musicians of English, Jamaican, Irish, Scottish and Yemeni ancestry. After a couple of months of experimentation with different musicians, a lineup jelled that remained stable for almost 29 years. In that time UB40 became one of the biggest acts in reggae music and one of best-selling acts in the music business.
UB40’s biggest hits were their reggae-style remakes of “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” — “Red Red Wine” hit No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1983, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in 1993.
Everything changed in 2008 when Campbell — the group’s guitarist and primary vocalist — announced that he was leaving due to disputes over management and business decisions. Keyboardist Virtue left to join Campbell a month later. The remaining members of UB40 replaced Campbell with his older brother, Duncan Campbell, and carried on.
The balance between UB40 and Campbell and Virtue shifted in 2014 when Astro, UB40’s most immediate link to the original roots reggae of Jamaica, announced that he was leaving the group to join Campbell and Virtue.
Original vocalists
When the newly formed trio of UB40 alumni released their first album, “Silhouette” in 2014, both of the voices heard on UB40’s biggest hits were singing together again for the first time since 2008.
The remaining founding members of UB40 and Duncan Campbell have argued in court that they continue to be UB40 and have exclusive rights to the name. Ali Campbell, Virtue and Astro respond that the billing they use is about more than ongoing legal proceedings and copyright infringement issues.
Astro puts it this way: “Anytime we’re advertising our modern performances, we always do it as ‘Ali, Astro and Mickey’ whereas they’re just going out under the moniker of UB40, and a lot of people are going and being disappointed because they don’t realize who’s on stage. With us, people have got the original vocalists on all the hits that they can think of — and why would you settle for some substitute when you can have the real thing?”
Looking forward, Astro says they’re working on a “collaboration album” with similarly minded artists on the West Coast and in Latin America. The foundation of the collaboration is a dub album Astro and Campbell mixed several years ago.
“It didn’t see the light of day, and we thought about bringing this music out of retirement, giving it a new lease on life,” Astro said.
“We’re also going back into the studio to record another self-penned album and a couple of other projects, so we’re keeping ourselves very, very busy.”
Going full circle to the subject of red, red wine, Astro said that 33 years after UB40’s reggae remake of “Red Red Wine” topped the Billboard Hot 100, they still haven’t heard from Neil Diamond, the song’s composer — even though Diamond gets a composer’s royalty every time someone buys a copy of UB40’s recording.
“Not even a thank-you,” Astro said. “He’s made some serious money (from our recording). He’s actually started doing our version of ‘Red Red Wine’ in his show, but when he starts to go into my rap, he obviously doesn’t understand it so he actually sings, ‘Red red wine makes me feel so good, even if the words aren’t understood.’”
Laughing, Astro said, “At least he’s acknowledged us by sticking it in his set, even if he hasn’t put pen to paper or picked up the phone or sent an email to say thanks, but that’s all right!”