UB40 is an English reggae and pop group formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The group has had over 50 singles on the UK Singles Chart as well as significant international success. They were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times and in 1984 were nominated for a Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 has sold over 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic composition of the original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemenite descent.
Their hit singles include their debut "Food for Thought" and two Billboard Hot 100 numbers with "Red Red Wine" and "Can't Help Falling in Love". Both also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band's "I Got You Babe" version. Their two most successful albums, Labor of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), peaked at # 1 on the UK Albums Chart. UB40 and British ska group Madness hold the record for the most weeks a group spent on the UK Singles Chart in the 1980s, with 214 weeks each.
The line-up was stable for nearly 29 years, from March 1979 to January 2008, when frontman Ali Campbell left the group and keyboardist Mickey Virtu left the band shortly after. Another member, Astro, remained in the group until November 2013 when he left the original group to team up with Campbell and Virtue to create a new version of UB40. In 2014, the original band (currently consisting of the remaining co-founders, drummer Jimmy Brown, guitarist Robin Campbell, bassist Earl Falconer, percussionist Norman Hassan and saxophonist Brian Travers, and new vocalist Duncan Campbell) sought legal aid against the group, in which includes Campbell, Virtue and Astro, due to the use of the group name as it is used by both parties