Will the real UB40 please stand up Feud: Ali Campbell is fighting with his brothers over the UB40 name. Photo: Fairfax Media The battle for the identity - or make that identities, plural - of Britain's reggae-pop powerhouse UB40 has been one of music's most bitter stoushes in recent times. But it appears Ali Campbell, Mickey Fortune and Astro - founding members of UB40 who left the band then formed their own group using the same name this year - have conceded their continued use of the name UB40 under threat of legal action. The trio's website, ub40.org, has posted a grudging statement which says: "We would not want anyone to confuse Ali, Astro and Mickey's band with the band that carried on using the name UB40 ... in their attempt to trade off the reflected glory of the success of the original line-up." The original UB40 line-up. The website now introduces them as "Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40 reunited with Astro and Mickey." Then just in case you are not quite sure which band to see, their statement continues: "Only with Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40, reunited with Astro and Mickey can audiences get to experience the closest thing to the sound of the hugely successful original line-up of UB40 as all the hits are played." Five members of the original band remain in it - including Ali's brothers Robin and Duncan. They served Ali Campbell, Fortune (keyboards) and Astro (vocals, percussion and trumpet) with writs in September and a court case over the name of the band was in the works until this month. Robin Campbell told London's Express newspaper at the time: "Ali [has] taken our name because he can't sell tickets on his own. The Chemical Brothers Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands. They are perfectly entitled to play any UB40 tracks they like. What they are not entitled to do is to pretend they are UB40. Fans are being hoodwinked. Ali Campbell, Fortune and Astro are set to begin a brief tour of Australia on December 5 in Perth, with gigs in Sydney on December 9 and 10, and Melbourne on December 11. They will play UB40 classics and songs from their new album, Silouettes, which includes a mixed bag of covers, among them: Silhouettes by Jamaican Denis Brown, I Want You by Bob Dylan, The Beatles' Anytime At All and Leroy Gibbons' Missing You. Ali Campbell, split from UB40 in 2008 and went going solo, only to relaunch a rebel line-up under the same name this year. Fortune and Astro joined him. The Pogues. He opened up to Fairfax about the messy family feud with his brothers which caused the split. Ali Campbell alleges he was not given time off the band to promote his solo albums - Running Free and Flying High - and when that caused tension within UB40, his brother Duncan - a former Perth fish and chip shop owner - suggested taking time off UB40. Ali Campbell alleged that the intervening six years had proved UB40 has lost its mojo: "They took the biggest-selling reggae band in Britain and made a country album. That was a direct slap in the face to me and the band's history. Then there was the infamous Cambridge Corn Exchange gig in April which drew complaints from fans about the volume. Ali Campbell: "Theyre playing the music so loud trying to drown out the lead vocals. All I've heard is complaints. Former lead singer Ali Campbell can't use UB40 name. Photo: Simone de Peak We play to 10,000 people. They are playing to crowds of 800. People are voting with their feet. Ali Campbell also claimed the band couldn't record the same quality of music without the three defectors. I wrote all of the original melodies apart from the few Astro would have written. Ninety-five per cent were me. They forgot I was the melody. I sat back and watched them destoy our legacy for the last six years. When the country album came out I thought 'sod it im going back out as UB40 to save the legacy of the band'. The real UB40 did stand up - it was me and Mickey and Astro. Now it seems there is only one UB40 is playing again and Ali Campbell and friends will have to be content to play the songs under a different name. But he is adamant he'd never rejoin the original band with his brothers in it. I wouldn't play with those guys again - there's been too much nastiness. There's been a hate campaign against me and Astro that has been quite childish. Ali Campbell (reunited with Astro and Mickey Fortune) play at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on December 9, at Qantas Credit Union Arena on December 10 (at the Beats for Breast Cancer concert with Justice Crew, Dami Im, Leo Sayer and Timomatic) and the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on December 11.