HERITAGE: Lord Creator & Winston Groovy Speak On UB40 Covering Their Music For The 'Labour of Love' Album (2002)

HERITAGE: Lord Creator & Winston Groovy Speak On UB40 Covering Their Music For The 'Labour of Love' Album (2002)


July 01, 2022

Emerging in 1980, Birmingham band UB40 (named after the form needed to receive unemployment benefits) were raised on the sounds of ska, reggae and rocksteady that they heard all around them in the Jamaican communities they all grew up in. Their first few albums reflected that and their ethos was always to champion the Jamaican music they loved so much.

As they explain in this segment from the I Love Jamaica doc (part of a BBC season in 2002 dedicated to celebrating 40 years of Jamaican independence), their ultimate aim was to record a covers album and bring the old classics to a new British audience. After butting heads with their label, they eventually went independent and did it on their own terms when they recorded Labour Of Love.

Ironically, it was their reggae version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" that proved to the be the album's biggest hit, but the rest of the album enjoyed plenty of success. Most importantly, many of the original artists got a chance to finally make some money from their music.

Between the newfound success and the land Lord Creator says he was able to buy with the royalty cheques, it should come as no surprise when Ranking Miss P explains how well-respected UB40 are in Jamaica.

The whole documentary's a goldmine, but for the UB40 section skip ahead to 39:30.




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