Four of the members of the famous reggae group UB40, all of whom went through bankruptcy proceedings recently, have debt problems totalling £750,000.
Drummer Jimmy Brown, saxophonist Brian Travers, percussionist Norman Hassan and trumpet player Terence Oswald were all forced into bankruptcy last month at Birmingham County Court, despite the fact that they sold more than 70 million records throughout their 30-year music careers.
The band members are now said to owe more than £750,000 to various creditors. Mark Sands, a spokesperson for the firm which is handling the bankruptcy, RSM Tenon, told the Sunday Mercury:
“The amount we are looking to recover is £750,000″
“We will assess their assets, which includes their properties and earnings, and see what we can get back.
“It may be that they don’t have anything, in which case we will look at them, then move on. It might be they have £100,000 equity in their homes.
“If they can give us that amount, or close to that amount, in cash, then we won’t go to the lengths of them selling their homes.”
Although he could not say how the members of UB40 managed to lose or spend all of their money, Mr Sands did confirm that most of the band’s debts were to HM Revenue & Customs and to the creditors of DEP International. This was UB40’s own company, which has now gone bust. In some good news for the band’s fans, however, Mr Sands did say that the musicians could continue to play, because their earnings can be used to tackle their debt problems.