UB40 have been declared bankrupt.
Four members of the reggae veterans – Brian Travers, Jimmy Brown, Terence Oswald and Norman Hassan – were revealed to have gone bust by a judge at Birmingham County Court.
The case follows the failure of the band’s record firm and management company DEP International and a bitter bust-up over band finances which forced frontman Ali Campbell to quit the band in 2008.
The court order lasts for a year and means that tax officers could seize property to pay off any outstanding debts, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Campbell – whose brother Duncan now fronts UB40 – said he tried to warn his bandmates about the impending financial disaster.
He added:
This is the very reason why I left the band. This was my biggest fear when I was with them, that bankruptcy was going to happen and no one can say I didn’t warn them.
A fifth original member of UB40, Ali’s brother Robin Campbell, was also involved in the court case although he was not listed as bankrupt. The band were understood to be recording a new album at a studio in Redditch, Worcestershire.