UB40 - Red Red Wine - Extended Mix (Guly Mix)

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UB40 - Red Red Wine - Extended Mix (Guly Mix) 2019
From The Album "Labour of Love" 1983

In 1983, UB40 recorded the best known version of the song, in a lighter reggae style. The UB40 version topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Diamond later performed a UB40-inspired version of the song while on tour.

UB40 recorded their rendition for their album of cover versions, Labour of Love. According to UB40 member Astro, the group's former vocalist and trumpet player, they were only familiar with Tony Tribe's version and did not realise that the writer was in fact Neil Diamond. Astro told the Financial Times, "Even when we saw the writing credit which said 'N Diamond,' we thought it was a Jamaican artist called Negus Diamond."

UB40's version features a lighter, reggae-style flavor compared to Diamond's somber, acoustic ballad. The UB40 version adds a toasted verse by Astro, opening: "Red Red Wine, you make me feel so fine/You keep me rocking all of the time", which was edited from the single that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in August 1983 and number 34 in the United States in March 1984 but not from the version that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 a few months after being performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert in 1988. In September 2014, the Official Charts Company announced that sales in the UK had reached one million.

Neil Diamond has stated that it is one of his favorite covers of his songs. He frequently performs the song live using the UB40 reggae arrangement, as opposed to the original version.