UB40 'would still love' chance to do Bond theme

UB40, who recently returned from the US, are set to do 13 dates in the UK in June 2026

Veteran reggae band UB40 said they were unable to do a James Bond film theme song after being asked 30 years ago but would love the chance again.

Jimmy Brown, drummer and a founding member of the Birmingham band, said: "We were asked before to do that [a song], we did it but we didn't deliver it in time."

Their song Until My Dying Day was a potential theme tune for the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye, starring Pierce Brosnan, but "the timelines didn't work," a band spokesperson confirmed.

Instead, Tina Turner famously sang the eventual theme, GoldenEye, written by Bono and The Edge from U2.

Jimmy Brown said the band were having fun and were "not going to retiring anytime soon"

Brown spoke about their work as UB40 unveiled a UK tour which ends in a homecoming to Birmingham.

They play the city's BP Pulse Live Arena on 20 June, 2026, the last of 13 UK dates which start at Brighton Centre on 1 June.

Brown told BBC Radio WM they recently returned from the US after a "brilliant" tour which had included a show with Rod Stewart in Mexico.

He said the band were enjoying themselves, with no plans to slow down and would consider a Bond tune.

"There's never been a reggae [track] has there for a Bond, so it gets my vote," Brown said.

He added they knew screenwriter Steven Knight, who will pen the next James Bond film.

Knight has created a TV and film studios in Digbeth, where UB40 have recorded for many years.

"We've got to know Steven Knight quite well, the writer of Peaky Binders. He's bought a lot of property, sort of old warehouses at the back of Digbeth," Brown said.

He joked: "We will have a little word [about a Bond song] - we'll take him out and get him drunk."

Brown added UB40's new album, released in the spring, was recorded "about 100 yards from where we've always recorded in Digbeth" in a new studio.

UB40 members were pictured with Steven Knight (centre left) at a screening of BBC series This Town last year

Reggae stars Maxi Priest and Aswad will join UB40 for the tour in June.

Brown said of UB40's newest tunes his favourite was Home, which is about Birmingham. It was written by their singer Matt Doyle about his Irish family coming to the city, he said.

"It's a really interesting song and I think he has done a great job. I love playing that live," he said.

Brown added the band were "still in their 60s" and having fun and "were not going to be retiring anytime soon".

""We really enjoy each other's company," he said. "We're old friends, we are like brothers."