Ali Campbell has wished UB40 colleague Mickey Virtue well – after saying he had ‘gone off to pursue other things’.
The pair played together for almost 40 years, with Mickey joining Ali's UB40 splinter group after he had become the first member to quit the band's original line-up.
Ali said: “We wish Mickey well, of course – has been with me for 40 years nearly, one of my mates.
“He contributed a lot (to UB40), a lot more than people think, with all of the weird and wonderful synth lines from 1980 onwards.
“He's gone off to pursue other things and we just hope he’s happy whatever he’s doing.”
Asked why there has been no social media comment about Mickey's departure, Ali said a statement had been put on out on the band's ub40.org website - but BirminghamLive has not found anything there or on Twitter or Facebook.
Earlier this week, tour promoting PR agency Deacon Communications told us: "Mickey Virtue will no longer be playing with UB40 featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey, effective immediately.
"Mickey has been in the band for almost 40 years and has now decided his time with the band has come to an end.
"The band will continue to tour and make new music as planned, with the two original singers Ali Campbell and Astro and their incredible reggae band."
And the @UB40 Twitter page now just refers to Ali and Astro with Mickey's picture removed without any accompanying comments.
Unable to remember the date without a list to hand, Ali said Mickey's last gig 'would have been a charity show in the UK' before the band played Mexico without him.
“Mickey just decided to go,” said Ali.
“We are happy with his decision as long as he’s happy.
“I am still making great music and making records with the best reggae band in the world – and that's what it’s all about.
“We are already completely booked for next year.
“We use different agents and change them – we’ve just gone with Paradigm in the US for the first time and that’s very exciting.”
BirminghamLive has attempted to contact Mickey Virtue for comment.
Earlier this week, Robin Campbell urged him to 'tell the truth' about why he had left Ali.
Robin said: "It would be nice if Mickey were to tell the truth about why he left us.
"If he was dumped (by Ali), maybe we will get the truth at last - I don't know.
"He was told things about us which made him leave at the same time as Ali."
UB40 featuring Ali Campbell & Astro will play Arena Birmingham on Friday, March 29 as part of its 'A Real Labour of Love 40th anniversary tour' in support of the band's last LP of the same name which reached No 2 in the album charts earlier this year.
Who is Mickey Virtue?
Keyboard player Mickey joined the band short after its first official gig at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on February 9, 1979.
When Ali quit UB40 in 2008, Mickey left shortly afterwards.
Robin replaced Ali with another brother Duncan Campbell, who has now been the lead vocalist for the past decade.
All of the Campbell siblings, along with older brother David who once briefly managed the group, are the sons of the late folk star Ian Campbell who died in 2012 aged 79.
After Astro – who went to Golden Hillock School with Mickey – quit UB40 in November 2013, the trio began to play together again from January 2014.
Mickey and Astro were in good spirits when they made a personal appearance together at the Pride of Birmingham Awards at the University of Birmingham in March, 2018.
But while the band was then called UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey, it has recently been shortened to ‘UB40 featuring Ali and Astro’.
Father of eight Ali has four children by his first wife Bernadette – Mickey Virtue’s sister - with whom he is no longer in touch having had four more children with second wife, Julie.
UB40 drummer Jimmy Brown - still playing with Robin Campbell et al - married another sister of Mickey's.
The rest of their UB40 line-up still includes fellow original members Brian Travers on sax, bass player Earl Falconer and percussionist and trombone player Norman Hassan all of whom were there at the very start in December, 1978.
UB40, with Robin Campbell et al, are playing their own 40th anniversary show at Arena Birmingham on Friday, December 21, 2018
A future without Mickey
One of Ali Campbell’s social media pages was still saying this week: ‘Only with Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40, reunited with Astro and Mickey can audiences get to experience the closest thing to the sound of the hugely successful original line-up of UB40 as all the hits are played.
'They can also get to hear these three founding members’ and UK reggae pioneers’ latest take on the genre'.
So how will the band cope without Mickey?
Ali said: “My version (of UB40) is that we have Ali and Astro... the two vocalists that everybody grew up listening to with all of those hits in the 80s and 90s.
“We always say we are a different UB40 to the other one as we would not want to be mistaken for them.”
Would Mickey be replaced?
“We don’t need to replace Mickey because our other keyboard player, Michael Martin, has been underused."
Ali said his band would be playing Australia and New Zealand from January 25, 2019 before returning to Hawaii in February.
“We always stay in Wailea village in Maui and it’s fantastic – you can see whales jumping out of the water so it really beautiful out there," he said.
UB40
“Then we have a nine-date arena tour of the UK (from March 25 to April 8), including Arena Birmingham on Friday, March 29."
As much as he loves Australia and has had lots of experience of jungle life, Ali said there was no way he would do ‘I’m A Celebrity....’
“The worst thing I’ve had in the jungle is kava... which I learned is made from women chewing nuts and spitting them into a bucket.”
Reflections on life before the split in 2008
The introduction to their joint autobiography ‘Ali & Robin Campbell - Blood and Fire’ (2005) talks openly about the friction between the two brothers over the years and describes the pair as ‘chalk and cheese’.
So which one is Ali?
Pausing for a minute to think about the answer, he says: “I think I’m.... a very mature cheddar.”
The book, written with Paul Gorman and Tim Abbot, explains how ‘Nobody likes to compromise but we all have to, which can be very frustrating for us all individually but not as a group’.
The bitter UB40 fracture seems to mirror the UK and its political parties re Brexit.
Ali, who told us in 2016 he would vote to leave, says: “As you get older you realise that the people running things are just idiots.
“They are careerists and don’t think about what’s good for the country.
“Politicians are childish, boring... and have been selling us down the river with a bunch of lies from the off.
“Nobody knows what they want to do.
“The media has been biased and awful towards the leavers – I can’t believe anybody who wanted to leave is called an extremist.
“All of the issues have been forgotten.”
Ali said he could remember the Labour Party in the mid 1970s saying it did not want to be part of Europe.
But despite the party now seemingly lacking clarity over Brexit while the Tories carry on fighting amongst themselves, would he still vote Labour in the next election?
“Yes," said Ali. "When I was in the US the election there was Trump or Hillary Clinton... the choice was like buffoons and liars!”
UB40 might be divided – but life goes on
Ali said he has no regrets about no longer being on a united front with the other stars who helped to create UB40.
“(I left because) I would not compromise on my music,” he explained.
“The only thing that matters to me is that I make good music.
“Now I don’t have to compromised with egos in the band and I’ve made five LPs of my own and I now have the best reggae band in the world."
Managing expectations
Ali is managed by rock legend Bill Curbishley (The Who).
His tour agent is Gary Howard and his band is now being represented in the United States by the Paradigm Talent Agency.
Was he still hoping to have a residency in Las Vegas?
“Yes, it’s still a pipe dream,” he said, reflecting on his thoughts in 2016.
“Even The Who had a short residency there recently, so who knows.
“Universal has Bob Marley World and I thought that’s what we should be doing... in Vegas.”
Life as a father of eight
Ali admitted he was worried about the state of the country.
And in particular the violence engulfing different parts of society with stabbings, machete attacks and so on.
“It’s all very worrying and all part of the austerity years we’ve been forced through with police cuts," he said.
“You worry about teenage kids. Everyone is worried.”
Daughter and solo singer Indica recently played a gig at the recently restored Prince of Wales on Cambridge Street close to the Arena Birmingham.
The pub is now managed by Lisa Travers, daughter of Brian Travers who still plays sax in the other side of the band he doesn’t want to be associated with.
“The kids all grew up as friends, so that’s fine,” said Ali.
Can Indica have her own future in music?
“It’s very difficult for them (people of her age).
“There’s no money with downloads.
“You have got to go live wherever you are, so it’s a difficult route.”
Memories of Cher
The first record Ali owned as a child was I Got You Babe.
After collaborating with Chrissie Hynde, the song topped the charts in 1985 in between the band's two other No 1 singles (Red Red Wine in 1983 and (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You (1991).
This week it was announced that Cher was to play the Arena Birmingham on October 26, seven months after UB40 featuring Ali & Astro.
Ali says he would be tempted to come to watch her if he’s free.
“I remember seeing her on Top of the Pops. We were getting ready to go on and then I saw her... this tiny little figure.
“When you see her on screen you think she’s tall, but Sonny must have been 3ft 4in.
“I could have met her then, but she looked scared and I thought if we all went over then she would have felt even more scared.”
