Reggae star returns to Eisteddfod

Ali Campbell burst onto the pop scene as front man with UB40 in the late 70s bringing reggae to mainstream music.

Almost half a century later the Birmingham born singer songwriter is still filling venues and is embarking on a 2025 run of concerts which will include the Llangollen Eisteddfod.

UB40 featuring Ali Campbell will take to the stage to headline Live at Llangollen on June 28.

And Ali is promising a night of timeless classics - hits from across the decades. The show marks his return to Llangollen where he last performed as part of the international Eisteddfod in 2016.

He said the secret to his long success was when UB40 chose reggae as its genre.

"Within six months of getting together we were going on tour with The Prentenders after Chrissie Hind came to see one of our gigs," he said.

"I grew up with reggae in a multi-cultural inner city area of Birmingham and spent my childhood running errands for people and in and around cafes where the jukeboxes would be full of reggae and Indian music.

"If you put together eight kids from our neighbourhood they would have looked like UB40."

"Today reggae is a cool and influential music style found everywhere including dance music."

It was Red Red Wine that saw UB40 hit the big time on both sides of the Atlantic.

"It got to Number 1 in 1983 and then again in America five years later. This meant we were known worldwide and toured everywhere."

One of the fellow founding members of UB40, Astro - full name Terence Wilson, sadly passed away suddenly in 2021.

"He was a lovely guy and left a huge hole that cannot be filled. But life has to go on and I was delighted when Frank Benbini from Fun Loving Criminals stepped up to join our line up.

"We pay tribute to Astro during our concert but above all we are very upbeat. Our pledge is a greatest hits set, playing the hits that everyone knows and loves."

For this tour Ali will be welcoming special guess Bitty McLean who joined him on a track on his second solo album, Running Free.

"Bitty has a wonderful voice and we recently put together a n"ew version of Kathy's Clown. We as UB40 employed him as our studio engineer - he went on to carve out a great career for himself.

Ali is looking forward to returning to Wales with fond memories of childhood holidays at the coast.

"As lots of Brummie's did we always went to Wales for our holidays. I think Wales is highly underrated. It is a wonderful place with some stunning scenery."

The band will be joined on the night by special guests Bitty McLean and Pato Banton, with tickets available via llangollen.net and ticketmaster.co.uk