UB40 go home for birthday concert

BIRMINGHAM, UK (AP) - Pop group UB40 will celebrate 21 years in the music business at Birmingham's NEC venue on Thursday night. The racially-mixed reggae band will be joined on stage by singer Chrissie Hynde and Jamaican drum and bass team Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Among 13,000 fans expected at the concert in the band's home city will be Brazilian footballer Ronaldo.

The profits from the show are to go towards a United Nations Aids project in Botswana, Africa - a scheme for which Ronaldo is a goodwill ambassador.

The gig will also promote the band's new studio album, Cover Up, released in the UK on 15 October. A spokeswoman for the NEC said: "There are only a few tickets left. This is a huge concert for the people of Birmingham."

Instruments

The band, who still live in Birmingham, formed in 1978 and named themselves after the UK's then unemployment signing-on card.
The band have admitted to spending several months learning to play their instruments before their first public performance in February 1979.
Their first single, Food For Thought, reached numer four in the UK charts in March 1980.
The band have gone on to have 34 top 40 hit singles and have released a total of 18 albums.

Their greatest hits album, The Best Of UB40 - Volume One, released in November 1987, stayed in the UK charts for 123 weeks.