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UB40‘s Ali Campbell has spoken out about the time Paris Hilton faced legal action for alleged similarities between her song ‘Stars Are Blind’ and the band’s 1989 song ‘Kingston Town’.
The hotel heiress’ debut single, which was released in 2006, garnered a lot of attention due to it sounding very similar to UB40’s popular cover of Lord Creator’s 1970 song.
“It really was a total lift,” Campbell told NME in a new interview. “When I heard it, I said what almost everybody does: ‘Wow! That’s more or less ‘Kingston Town’ all the way through’.”
He added: “It was almost comical. I don’t know who sued her – it wasn’t us.”
At the time, it was wrongly stated that UB40 were the suing party, which the band later confirmed as being incorrect. It was actually the copyright holders of the song, Sparta Florida Music Group, who started legal proceedings against Hilton and Warner Chappell Music for plagiarism.
Elsewhere in the interview, Campbell recalled the time Gwen Stefani turned up at the House of Blues to see UB40 perform, declaring herself a fan of the Birmingham reggae pop band.
“We were upset because when Gwen Stefani came into the club, she was upstairs in the balcony and the fuckers who run the club put the spotlight on her all the way through the show – which must have made her uncomfortable,” he said. “But we love Gwen and No Doubt, particularly stuff like ‘Underneath It All’ that they did with [reggae legends] Sly and Robbie. She knows her reggae.”
He continued: “She came to another big show after the House Of Blues one – and we gave her a smokeable present, so she was happy. Her husband at the time [Gavin Rossdale of Bush] came up to me the day after and went: ‘What the hell did you do to my wife?! She was all over the place when she got home!’”
Meanwhile, UB40 singer Duncan Campbell was admitted to hospital last week after suffering a stroke.
In a statement on Twitter, the band said he was “already up and about” and asked fans for privacy during his recuperation.
The statement added: “As he works his way back to what we all hope will be a strong and speedy recovery. We look forward to seeing you all on the road next spring.”
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