UB40 won't reunite with Ali Campbell "for all the money in the world"

The lead vocalist departed from the band in 2008 after a 30-year stint, later claiming that his exit was a result of management and business disputes.

Co-founder Mickey Virtue quit shortly after Campbell, while Astro also left the band in 2013 before his death in 2021.

In a new interview with The Trawl podcast, UB40 members Robin Campbell and Jimmy Brown expressed their reluctance to reunite with their former frontman.

Jimmy said: "All the money in the world wouldn't get us to do that. The conclusion I've come to in the end is that he's done us some big favour."

He continued: "We've got a brilliant singer [Matt Doyle]. He's fantastic and he's only 30. He's got a fantastic voice, and you can rely on him. He doesn't get boozed up every night."

The drummer also opened up about the singer’s exit from the band, revealing: "What was happening was there was less and less records being sold with the rise of techno. And we were having to tighten our belts."

He added: "Ali got himself a new squeeze, a new girlfriend, you know, and rejected his family.

"And he was trying to impress, he was like Mike Tyson in a jewellery shop. I think he made the calculation, you know, encouraged by his girlfriend and our ex-manager, and made the calculation that maybe if he was to dump the band then he could go out and still live the same pop star life he'd been used to living for 20 years.

"Unfortunately, the tour that he booked at that time under his own name just bombed."

Robin insisted that his brother Ali’s exit wasn’t a family feud and was instead strictly a business matter.

He said: "I've said this so many times, but it wasn't a family fall out. It wasn't brothers falling out. He left the band.

"And he was also closer to several members of the band than he was to me, even though he was my kid brother. For instance, Brian Travers, our sax player who's passed away, they were best pals from the age of 10, 11 years old."

He added: "The advice he [Robin and Ali's dad] gave me when we formed the band, about sharing everything equally… that was massively influenced by my dad's politics. Massively.

"Our whole ethos was. And Ali was influenced in the same way. And for him to turn his back on that whole idea was just ridiculous."

Ali Campbell has previously opened up on his departure from the band, saying: "Those days are well done. I was kind of betrayed by [the band] and I left citing problems with management."

RadioTimes.com has reached out to Campbell's representatives for further comment.

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