AS keyboard player in UB40, Mickey Virtue has spent the last 35 years sharing his passion for reggae.

And as the band returns to the UK for the last leg of their current world tour, it's a passion which is as heartfelt now as it was at the very beginning.

"Our whole approach from day one has been to play the music we love," said Mickey who comes to Manchester Apollo later this month with fellow UB40 founder members, singers Ali Campbell and Astro.

The show will see the trio performing songs from the record breaking albums Labour of Love Parts I and II including Red, Red Wine and Kingston Town.

"These were all songs which we had grown up with in Birmingham," said Mickey, "but which were largely unknown in this country.

"We were lucky that it was such a multi-cultural area as we were exposed to so many different influences. Everybody just loved the music, it didn't matter where you came from - and that's something we have taken with us wherever we have played since."

The tour has seen Mickey, Ali and Astro performing to sell-out audiences around the world.

"It doesn't matter where we have been, the reaction has been amazing," he said. "We've even been to Papua New Guinea and there reception there was tremendous."

With sales of over 70 million albums around the world and 50 top 40 singles, UB40 are one of the most successful bands of all time.

But deciding to do a complete show based around their two most successful albums will, as Mickey accepts, cause a few problems.

"We've only got a two hour show so it's just not possible for us to play everyone's favourites," he said. "I hope that people will accept that and just come along and enjoy the show.

"The Labour of Love album was the first time we had done a complete album of cover versions. What we wanted to do was put the spotlight on the original artists who had written and recorded the songs but we never expected the album to be as phenomenally successful as it was."

Thanks to their championing of reggae, Mickey says that he, Ali and Astro have a special relationship with Jamaica and its people.

"To understand reggae fully you have to go to Jamaica," he said. "It's where the music came from and it's only by visiting the island that you see how it came to be."

No story about UB40 can ignore the bitter split in the band which first saw Ali leave in 2008, shortly followed by Mickey. Astro joined the pair in 2014 but other original members also tour as UB40 with Duncan Campbell on vocals.

"For me the other group is now a tribute band," said Mickey.

"But the important thing now is that Ali, Astro and I are playing the music that brought us together in the first place."

UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, Manchester Apollo, Wednesday, April 27. Tickets from www.myticket.co.uk