UB40 Hits the Road for a 40th Anniversary Tour

They say that a glass of wine every day is good for your longterm health. That might explain why UB40, the band behind 1983's hit song Red Red Wine, look so good on the band's 40th anniversary.

Not only do they look good, but they're delivering the goods to fans as they embark on a new tour.

Robin Campbell said that, although they always viewed the band as a career, they never anticipated that they would still be at it decades later.

“We didn’t expect it to be a short-lived thing, but nobody could imagine 40 years.”

Duncan Campbell was quick to add perspective.

“Most people at 20 don’t think they’re gonna live to sixty, do they? Let alone what they’re gonna be doing when they get there.”

Red Red Wine allowed the English pop-reggae stars to go global when it hit number one on American airwaves.

“The week we had a number one single in America, we played Madison Square Garden and it was sold out, and that was, for us, massive.”

Another big hit came with I Can’t Help Falling in Love, a song wrapped in the soundtrack to Sharon Stone’s movie, Sliver.

“That was a complete surprise to us, because we were asked to do it for a different movie and they didn’t pick it up.”

Robin continued, saying that the song "sat on the shelf" for a year until the Sliver's producers asked to use it, which the band gladly obliged.

Of course, the number one question to follow UB40 throughout their careers has been, "How did a couple of white guys from England become reggae musicians?"

Robin explained that the band members grew up around Jamaican music.

“Where we grew up was a multiracial, multicultural area and we heard reggae on the streets, in the coffee bars, in the pubs, in the clubs — everywhere we were, we heard reggae, so when we formed a band with our mates, half of whom were black guys, there was never a question. We were only ever going to be a reggae band.”

You can sip some Red Red Wine and listen to UB40 live on their 40th Anniversary tour!