UB40 ADD

Original UB40 Lead Vocalists To Reunite After Six Years

11/26/2013

Four days ago it was breaking news, that lead vocalist Astro left UB40. Read Astro's statement and UB40's reply in THIS NEWS!

But today the next press release has been leaked and it announces an interesting reunion of three original UB40 members:

[Press Release 26th November 2013] Original UB40 lead vocalist Astro is to join UB40 founder and former frontman Ali Campbell in the pair’s first performance together in nearly six years.
 
Astro will join the line up for Ali Campbell’s December 6th concert at the O2’s IndigO2 [London], together with original UB40 keyboardist Mickey Virtue, who has been playing with Campbell since the pair left the band in February 2008.
 
Said Astro: "It's going to be great working with Ali again after all this time. We started on a mission to promote reggae music and that mission is still ongoing. Onwards and upwards!"
 
Added Ali Campbell: “We originally formed UB40 to promote reggae. It was never about promoting individual band members - it's about the music and the fans. Nothing else matters. Welcome home Astro!”
 
The news has arisen after Astro announced on Friday his split with the band that continued to play under the name of UB40 after Campbell and Virtue left. He issued a statement on Friday to explain his departure, pasted at the bottom of this release.
 
Addressing the split once more, Astro added: “I informed management and our agent several weeks ago that I would not perform until various outstanding issues were cleared up. I also advised them not to use my name or image in any tour publicity so as not to mislead fans. I now felt I needed to inform the fans myself, so they were fully aware and would not go to a concert in the hope of seeing me.”
 
Speaking about his own departure six years ago, Campbell said: “It was a very acrimonious split and it remains so.  I consider the whole band as my brothers – including my two real brothers who are in the current line up – and for six years we haven’t said a word to each other. It’s very sad to see what they’ve done to the legacy of UB40. It’s not the original lineup and they haven’t been very transparent about that at all.”[...]