UB40 is Back with a New Single and U.S. Tour, Guitarist Robin Campbell Talks the Band’s Illustrious History

When Robin Campbell, guitarist for the legendary reggae band UB40, was growing up in the city of Birmingham, U.K., music was everywhere. He was “born into it,” he says. His father was a “reasonably successful” folk musician with a band and his own club to play in. Campbell remembers sitting on the floor as a kid, listening to his pops and his band rehearsing in their home, too. Other musicians would play his father’s club, also in Birmingham, and then stay the night at the Campbell’s.

Meanwhile, all around, in the ether practically, Campbell would hear ska and reggae music emanating from the windows of homes. There were a lot of immigrants living in the neighborhood, he says, and Jamaican music would fill the space between the residences. Of course, English pop music from the ’60s and Motown would mix in, too. But Campbell loved reggae and so did his friends and family, many of which would go on to form UB40. Ever since, the band, which is set for a new U.S. tour this summer (from August 18-September 18), went on to sell 100 million records, earn Grammy Awards and leave an imprint on music forever.