Dancing to Ali Campbell's beats

Lily

B.R
Staff member
With one of the UK's most distinctive voices, and as lead singer with world-renowned reggae group UB40, Ali Campbell has sold over 60 million records, toured the globe, notched up four number one singles, released 24 studio albums, and received a prestigious Ivor Novello award for International Achievement.

Despite all this, he's showing no signs of slowing down, and the self-confessed reggae fanatic has released Great British Songs, an acclaimed album of covers given a reggae makeover.

In an exclusive chat with e+, Ali talked about his love of reggae, the enduring popularity of his hit track Red Red Wine, and the hot new stars we should be keeping an ear out for...

How and where did your love for reggae begin?

I grew up in place called Bostall Heath in South Birmingham. You can call it the wrong side of the tracks if you like, as it was a bit of a ghetto area. My neighbourhood was predominantly West Indian and Asian, so I was listening to a lot of Caribbean and Asian music. As I grew up, the music of the streets was reggae and it was evolving, most of my friends were Jamaican so we used to go to these parties that they hosted all the time. I was little so I was tolerated and allowed to go. I lived and grew around that music all my life and that explains my love for it.

You haven't been part of a band for a long time. What do you enjoy about being a solo artist?

I'm a lot more productive now. It's a lot of hard work being in a band. With UB40 it was a compromise between eight people. There are a lot of creative differences and disagreements. Now, I call the shots and it's easy for me to work with session musicians. I can produce an album in six days.

Will you ever get tired performing Red Red Wine?

No, never! We didn't know it was a Neil Diamond song. The reason we covered that song is because it was covered by a guy called Tony Tribe. That was when I was nine years old. It was just a favourite of everybody in my area. When we decided to work on some covers of reggae songs, Red Red Wine was an obvious choice. I love that song and of course it went to number one in England and Europe and all over the world. Five years later it went to number one in America. It feels like it had two lives and it's still a very popular song.

Prince has recently said he doesn't approve of his songs being covered. Obviously you disagree?

I've just done a cover of a Prince song! My latest album, Great British Songs, features covers of iconic 60s British rock songs. Before I got the idea for this album, I was sitting down with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and we covered Prince's song Purple Rain. It'll be out this year and it's one of the best covers I've ever done. It's not a very obvious cover or a very obvious reggae cover for that matter, but it worked really well and I'm sure when you hear it, you'll love it. Prince has heard it and he agrees it works. Maybe he's changed his mind about covers now because he's given us permission to cover that song?

Who are the new reggae stars we should keep an eye on?

At the moment I'm listening to Movado, Gappy Ranks, Gyptian, Black Rhino, Busy Signal - all up-and-coming reggae stars for the future. I always support the new stars in reggae music. I'm very passionate about my reggae, so I make sure I stay up to date with the latest singers.

You come to Dubai quite a lot. Is this one of your favourite places to perform?

I love performing everywhere, and I like to holiday here in Dubai and my children love it here. We've been coming here for the last 20 years... that's much longer than my children have been around, of course. It's a favourite holiday destination because it's very safe for my kids.

What's the best thing about being on the road?

I've been looked after very nicely everywhere I've been. Back in the day it was rougher as we didn't have any money and we lived in the back of the van. For the last 20 years I've been staying in five-star hotels so it's a permanent holiday for me. The gigs get in the way a little bit, but it's lovely to travel and meet people all the time.
 
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