{"id":44768,"date":"2021-11-08T06:49:02","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T06:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/founding-member-of-reggae-pop-giants-ub40-astro-dies-after-short-illness\/"},"modified":"2021-11-08T06:51:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T06:51:31","slug":"founding-member-of-reggae-pop-giants-ub40-astro-dies-after-short-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/founding-member-of-reggae-pop-giants-ub40-astro-dies-after-short-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Founding member of reggae pop giants UB40, Astro, dies after short illness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Terence Wilson \u2014 who went by the stage name Astro \u2014 performed with UB40 until 2013 before forming a breakaway band.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that our beloved Astro has today passed away after a very short illness,&#8221; his current band, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro, said on Twitter late Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The world will never be the same without him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His former band confirmed the news, saying Wilson had died after &#8220;a short illness&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>UB40&#8217;s pop reggae cover of Neil Diamond&#8217;s Red Red Wine propelled them to fame, with the band going on to sell more than 100 million records.<\/p>\n<p>They also held the record \u2014 shared with Madness \u2014 for most weeks spent in the UK singles chart in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>Hailing from the British Midlands city of Birmingham, the group rode a wave of youthful discontent against the economic and political status quo, with their name referring to a form provided to people claiming unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Drummer Jimmy Brown told the Guardian this year that the group had even been under surveillance by British intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;MI5 were tapping our phones, watching our houses, all sorts,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We weren&#8217;t planning the revolution, but if the revolution happened, we knew what side we were going to be on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-39976 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/ub_40.jpg\" alt=\"Astro, pictured in 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was part of UB40 for more than 30 years. Photo CNN \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Former vocalist and founding member of British reggae group UB40 \u2014 which rose to fame in the 1980s with hits like Red, Red Wine and Can&#8217;t Help Falling In Love \u2014 has died at the age of 64, his band members confirmed.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[75],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-44768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-homenews","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. 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