The popular British reggae band UB40 featuring Ali Campbell will perform Feb. 15 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Courtesy photo

With global record sales of over 70 million, British reggae band UB40 is so popular they have performed in over a third of the world’s nations.

“There isn’t a corner in the world that doesn’t play UB40 music,” says founding lead singer Ali Campbell. “We had 40 Top 20 hits in the ’80s and ’90s, and we still get lots of regular airplay all around the world.”

They even have fans in remote Pacific nations like Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, where tribesmen showed up in traditional costume to greet the musicians. “We’ve had all the welcomes and drinking kava and everything,” says Campbell. “We went to Vanuatu and we played for 75,000 people there. It was phenomenal. We got a fantastic welcome. They sing along. That’s what YouTube has done for us. We’re very lucky that we’ve got a worldwide fan base. People all around the world love reggae. Reggae is still cool and kids love it as much as people my age.”

The lead singer of the world’s most successful reggae band, heard on a stream of hits from “Red Red Wine,” “I Got You Babe” (with Chrissie Hynde) and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” to “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Sing Our Own Song” and “Rat in Mi Kitchen,” Campbell was exposed to reggae from a young age.

“We grew up in an immigrant area on the wrong side of the tracks in the city of Birmingham,” Campbell recalls. “It was a red-light district, and my neighbors were West Indian, from the Windrush generation. I grew up listening to Indian music as well, Muhammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle and all that. But my music of choice was first of all Jackson 5. I loved the Jackson 5. And then we were just surrounded by reggae. We used to hang around as little kids in cafes playing pinball and getting up to mischief, and the music on the jukeboxes was all rocksteady and reggae. And so we grew up with it, and we loved it. We were considered strange. In the ’70s, it was all about glam rock in England. All of that went over my head. I was into reggae. I was listening to the Wailers.”

The Birmingham band’s first single, “King,” in 1980, highlighted American racism and the assassination of Martin Luther King. It became the first ever single in the U.K. to enter the Top 10 without the support of a major record label.

Their early political lyrics with songs like “One in Ten” and “If It Happens Again” caught the attention of Britain’s MI5, who considered them subversive and bugged the musicians’ phones.

“Our houses were tapped; our phones were tapped,” he explains. “We found out eventually that there was a list. The Sex Pistols, The Clash and UB40 were on that list, people that they considered to be undesirables or Communist sympathizers or whatever. We were never Communist. It was hilarious that they thought we were disruptive enough to spy on us.”

When the British musicians first toured America, some folks would ask them to turn down the bass. “They were saying, ‘We love your style of rock and roll, but could you turn the bass down a little?’ These are the days when people didn’t really know what reggae was, and especially didn’t know what dub was. We got the first dub album in the charts. We just had great success with an album called ‘Present Arms,’ and we thought, ‘This is an ideal time for us to show people what dub music is.’ So our next release was ‘Present Arms in Dub.’ And people brought it back in droves, going, ‘It’s got no vocals, and there’s strange echoes, and it’s faulty.’ So even though we got it into the charts, it was a sort of education process that we had to go through. And it was a bit like that with reggae in America. Unless there were sort of niche audiences, they didn’t really know what reggae was, because it wasn’t really available.

“In America, when we first got there, you had black stations and you had white stations. And with us, they didn’t know where to put us because we were a multiracial band and playing reggae. We didn’t really fit in anywhere. We were breaking new ground.”

With so many hits over the years, having scored more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, one wonders if he has any favorites?

“It’s a bit like saying, ‘Have I got a favorite child?'” he responds. “I love all the covers, obviously, because that’s why we covered them in the first place. We only did three albums of covers called ‘Labour of Love,’ one, two and three, and they sold like 21 million. So obviously, I love all of them, and a lot of them were hits, so I include them in our live sets. They’re all my favorites because they’re the songs that made us love reggae. They’re the ones we grew up listening to. And as far as self-penned stuff goes, I love them all.”

With the conversation turning to “Rat In Mi Kitchen,” Campbell recalls how that song came about.

“That was a good one, and that was a true story as well,” he says. “We were writing an album, and Astro came round to my house and said, ‘Have I got any ideas for lyrics?’ And I went, ‘Forget that. I’ve got a rat in mi kitchen.’ I’d shot it with an air gun, and I was sitting waiting for it to reappear again. And he went home and wrote ‘Rat In Mi Kitchen.'”

Performing as UB40 featuring Al Campbell, this version of the legendary group last released the album “Unprecedented,” which included original songs and covers of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.”

As far as new recordings, “we have got some in the pipeline,” he says. “I’ve recorded already with some pretty special guests. Idris Elba being one of them, and I’ve done some new stuff with Bitty McLean. It’s a different world now of releasing, because there’s not really a CD market anymore. We sold 70 million CDs, but of course you can’t do that now. It’s all about streaming. I’ve got stuff that I’ve recorded, but we’ll be waiting to release it.”

Returning to Hawaii, he says, “it’s just beautiful to play reggae music. It’s what I’ve lived for all my life, and to go abroad to beautiful places like Maui and the South Pacific. Last year, we went from the South Pacific to India to Uganda, then to South America, then back to Europe. I’m always excited about coming back to Maui. I’ve been to most of the islands, but Maui is my favorite island. It’s just so beautiful.”

UB40 featuring Ali Campbell returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater & Yokouchi Pavilion on Feb. 15 with Kanekoa opening. Gates open at 5 p.m., and the show starts at 6:30. Tickets are all general admission (no seats) and are $49 and $89 for VIP plus applicable fees. Prices go up the day of the show. VIP tickets offer access to the front of stage viewing area, separate restrooms, and over 21 access to the Yokouchi Pavilion bars. VIP areas will be available for both over 21 and all ages ticket holders.