 The story of UB40, and how this group of young friends from Birmingham transcended their working-class origins to become the world’s most successful reggae band is not the stuff of fairytales as might be imagined. The group’s led a charmed life in many respects it’s true, but it’s been a long haul since the days they’d meet up in the bars and clubs around Moseley, and some of them had to scrape by on less than £8 a week unemployment benefit. The choice was simple if you’d left school early. You could either work in one of the local factories, like Robin Campbell did, or scuffle along aimlessly whilst waiting for something else to happen.

By the summer of 1978, something else did happen, and the nucleus of UB40 began rehearsing in a local basement. Robin’s younger brother Ali, Earl Falconer, Brian Travers and James Brown all knew each other from Moseley School of Art, whilst Norman Hassan had been a friend of Ali’s since school. Initially, they thought of themselves as a "jazz-dub-reggae" band, but by the time Robin was persuaded to join and they’d recruited Michael Virtue and Astro – who’d learnt his craft with Birmingham sound-system Duke Alloy – the group had already aligned themselves to left-wing political ideals and forged their own identity, separate from the many punk and Two Tone outfits around at that time. The group had nailed their colours to the mast by naming themselves after an unemployment benefit form. Their political convictions hadn’t been gleaned second hand either, but cemented in place whilst attending marches protesting against the National Front, or rallies organised by Rock Against Racism.

By the time Chrissie Hynde invited them to tour with the Pretenders during the summer of 1980 and their debut single "King b/w Food For Thought" had sailed into the UK Top 5, all the essential elements of UB40 were already in place. Their line-up will remain unchanged for almost thirty years, and they will continue playing a mix of original material and inspired choice of reggae covers in a style that’s instantly accessible with its bright melodies and sweeping horn arrangements – one that’s allied to a formidable rhythm section, capable of holding its own with anything from Jamaica.

UB40’s first album was released the following September, on Graduate Records. Their deal allowed them more creative freedom than if they had signed with a major label. The cover artwork memorably duplicated an unemployment benefit card, with the title "Signing Off" rubber-stamped in red, but it was the music that quickly worked its way into the affections of a young, mainly student crowd with its knowing lyrics, solid reggae rhythms and dubby, instrumental passages, offset by warm horn solos and Jamaican style scatting. There was nothing else like it at the time. As a multi-cultural band from Birmingham, UB40 weren’t drawn into trying to sound "authentic," and there was considerably more depth to their music than that of many punk and 2Tone bands. "I’m a British subject, not proud of it, whilst I carry the burden of shame," they sang on one of the tracks. Accepting the truth of their own situation amidst a sea of other reggae songs proclaiming black heritage gave us a valuable insight into where UB40 were coming from. They were unafraid to stand up and be counted, and British audiences instinctively loved them for it. "Signing Off" duly went to No. 2 in the UK and stayed on the nation’s album charts for 72 weeks.

On September 2nd, 2013, UB40 released their latest album ‘Getting Over The Storm’ on Universal/Virgin Records.

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DJ Jamie B real name James Brown is a DJ and music producer from Belfast Northern Ireland, he started his music career aged 18 playing in local clubs around the Belfast area, he began producing music 10 years ago with another two local producers Nova Scotia and Micky Modelle, they were then making songs under the name Ghetto Busterz, they released remixed tracks such as Rhianna, Ne-Yo, the Guru Josh Project and remixes for clubland.
In 2015 Jamie was approached by a local Belfast radio station Blast 106 to have his own show named Dreamteam 90’s Dance show this proved to be very successful for him and lead him to then start his own Facebook live show Jamie B old skool anthems for all his followers.
He started doing this when he was out playing in clubs from his phone and as his followers increased he then started streaming from his studio on a Monday evening, by this stage he was getting 20k views per stream and this then lead to him in 2016 working in clubs over in Scotland , he then started producing his own music with Nova Scotia for this show such as Don’t stop the sweet lovin and Million faces which both have over 4 million views on youtube.
Since then Jamie B and nova scotia have been non stop producing and remixing new and old music giving them that old skool sound that has proven so popular that their songs are regularly played on George Bowie’s GBX anthems show on Clyde One, this then led to Jamie being asked over to play in Ibiza with GBX and also playing at 2018’s Stereofunk  and Colourfest festivals in Scotland, and also some big clubs and festivals in Northern Ireland.
he continues to produce music both on his own and with Nova Scotia and recently remixed the brand new track Home for TTF and his live shows get up to 70k watching him weekly he also has over 120k followers on his Facebook page www.facebook.com/djjamieboldskoolanthems also check out his soundcloud & mixcloud www.soundcloud.com/jamiebdj
www.mixcloud.com/djjamieboldskoolanthems
For anymore information or bookings contact billy.mcnabb1@gmail.com or www.facebook.com/billy.mcnabb.16  Call 07850976879

my debut album ‘early twenties’ is out July 12th. you can pre order now x
https://CatBurns.lnk.to/earlytwenties

If you were to hold a mirror up to the most pleasing and defining aspects of Gen Z and amalgamate them into one picture-perfect pop star, it’s unlikely you’d get a closer reflection of their fluid intersections than Cat Burns. Cat is a 23-year-old platinum-selling singer-songwriter from Streatham, South London. Her artistry is defined by elegant, frank, conversational lyrics and melodies so instantly familiar they feel like they’ve been plucked from the sky. 

A BRIT School alumni, Cat emerged on everyone’s radars due to the success of her viral hit ‘go’. Originally released in 2020, ‘go’ became a phenomenon on global platform TikTok in early 2022, taking Cat from her bedroom in Streatham to #2 on the Official Singles Chart. ‘go’ gained Cat her first platinum certification and an ever-expanding yet loyal fanbase.

Having previously featured in Spotify's Noteable songwriters program, 2022 saw Cat not only announced as a Spotify UK RADAR artist but a Global RADAR artist - making her the first UK artist to receive the global accolade. 

Whether it’s slower, introspective songs like ‘sleep at night’, a soaring ballad depicting Cat overcoming hardships and choosing to do so with dignity and grace, or the upbeat, gospel-tinged ‘people pleaser’, Cat Burns manages to make her voice feel personal yet universal all at the same time. 

 With 2023 certain to add to Cat Burns’ tremendous success, she’s ready to seize with both hands the future superstar status that awaits her.

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