The ambassadors of Reggae, UB40 have cancelled their August 9 concert at Marbella’s Starlite festival.

The UK band who became world ambassadors and promotors of Reggae in the 1980s have had to pull out of their gala show at the Cantera de Nagüeles in Marbella.

String of UB40 cancellations

The band cancelled half of their US tour and last week announced that they would be pulling out of their gig in Vigo, Spain. It was expected that they might do the same with the Marbella Starlite Festival concert too. Lead singer Ali Campbell has been battling what has been described as a ‘mystery illness’ for some years now, and as a result of his current condition, he is unable to fly. On their Facebook page, the band assured fans in the UK that those concerts would still go ahead.

UB40 singer jinxed by illness

Campbell, 64, has been jinxed by a variety of illnesses that have impeded his singing over the years, and caused the band to cancel concert dates. In 2011, a bout of glandular fever followed by the news he had Epstein-Barr Virus, and again in 2023, the band had to call off scheduled dates for what was described in the press as a ‘mystery illness’.

The band, who have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of their breakthrough album ‘The Labour of Love’ and the massive 1983 hit ‘Red Red Wine’, a cover of the Neil Diamond classic, are going to have to postpone the rest of the celebrations until Ali recovers. From all at Euro Weekly News, we wish Ali Campbell a speedy recovery.