The band members began as friends who knew each other from various colleges and schools across Birmingham . The name "UB40" was selected in reference to the document issued to people claiming unemployment benefit from the UK government's Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) at the time of the band's formation . The designation UB40 stood for Unemployment Benefit, Form 40 . Before any of them could play their instruments, Ali Campbell and Brian Travers travelled around Birmingham promoting the band, putting up UB40 posters . The band purchased its first instruments from Woodroffe's Musical Instruments with £4,000 in compensation money that Campbell, who would become the lead singer, received after a bar fight during his seventeenth birthday celebration . In 1981 the theme tune to BBC children's television series You and Me was changed to a reggae version performed by UB40 .[citation needed] Despite great success in the UK, UB40's popularity in the United States was only established after they released Labour of Love, an album of cover songs, in 1983 . The album reached No . 1 on the UK Albums Chart and No . 8 on the Billboard 200 in the US . The album featured the song "Red Red Wine", a cover version of a Neil Diamond song (in an arrangement similar to that of Tony Tribe's version); it stayed on the charts for over a hundred weeks . Three years later UB40 performed at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986 . On 21 August 2007, they performed with Cas Haley on the America's Got Talent season finale . In 2007 UB40 were signed by Ingenious Media PLC, a London investment bank that finances albums .[citation needed] .