So he was no longer Brian Travers Official - the life and soul of the party who had just celebrated his 60th birthday.
He was Brian Travers Anonymous, the housebound artist with no audience.
Today, with his body's immune system perilously weakened by a year of chemo and radiotherapy, the still chirpy chappy knows he can't afford to catch coronavirus.
But he says nobody should ever be afraid of illness because of its power to set you free, so today he will again be busy painting, writing, recording and filming his own legacy as his creative streak continues to run in overdrive.
Brian's dilemma proves you only live twice, since UB40 famously named themselves after the unemployment benefit card of the day when they used their late 1970s' downtime to all learn instruments and to creatively gel as a band that would conquer the world in ways they would never have believed when first signing on the dole.
Still living without fear, he feels compelled to share his tips about how anyone can survive a 12-week, in-house lockdown - and come out of the other side smiling and possibly more talented than ever.
End of the road, but the start of a life
After four decades of constant touring, Brian's lifestyle came crashing down at home exactly a year ago.
Brian had had “three or four pints” and gone to bed at 2am after a watching a film he can’t remember the title of.
Fast asleep at 6am on Tuesday, March 19 he had a seizure which woke up his wife, Lesley.
An MRI scan revealed he had one tumour 12mm long and another at 7mm - and they were joined.
They would have to be removed during an operation that would certainly invade his frontal cortex - behind the eye and next to the temple - and also risk changing his personality, too.
The day before Brian's operation, close friend Ranking Roger from The Beat died from his own double tumour of the brain.
The day after his surgery, the rest of UB40 went on tour without him.
Welcome to lockdown with Brian - a year before the rest of the world would join him.
New beginning
The day before his operation, Brian had promised himself a few pints of Guinness in his favourite pub, the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath where UB40 had played their first gig on February 9, 1979 - and followed it up with a secret show on Sunday, October 7, 2018
Incredibly, just two days after leaving hospital, Brian was there as good as his word.
He visited several times more, always ready to enjoy anything else that is supposedly bad that would make him feel good - like a cigarette by the tables outside.
But then it was time for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a double dose of treatment that is still ongoing a year later.
Physically, it has knocked some of the stuffing out of him - the act of trying but failing to be sick for hours on end has even made him stop drinking.
On top of that he has been under total lockdown since just before Christmas lest he pick up seasonal flu, never mind the deadly coronavirus.
But he's still smiling. Still laughing. Still creating. And here's why...
Finding out what you are made of
Brian now says we should all look at another side of the coronavirus pandemic - by enjoying the enforced slower pace of family life and learning to become much more creative.
With all but key workers currently being told to stay indoors, Brian says everyone should use this lockdown opportunity to rebalance their lives in a positive, old fashioned way ready to come out stronger, kinder and more talented at the other end.
“This is the kind of time when you find out who you are, and what you are made of,” he says.
Less than three weeks after his operation, BirminghamLive met up with Brian at the Hare & Hounds
Brian said then he was determined to carry on living, but in an even more creative way.
"I’ve lived my life to the full and I’m going to carry on living it to the full – I’m a rock and roller!" he said.
“I have never had a greater gift than this operation. I am going to make some great art, and I am so excited.”
Now, with much of the developed world also having to now live day by day through uncertain, worrying times, Brian has come out fighting again.
This time to tell everyone not to be depressed, but to make the most of the way life suddenly is – even now.
Just like Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison and came out saying “I went for a long holiday,” Brian has survived a year of relative solitude, too.
Remarkably, even though daughter Lisa had to close her 1858 pub The Prince of Wales on Cambridge Street on Friday night just 17 months after taking it on, he remains resolutely optimistic.
“We can get through this,” says Brian. “We will get through this by helping our neighbours.
“Love can cure everything, it makes you strong, fearless, emotional and gives you empathy, too.
“And we are in Birmingham - the most creative, resourceful city in the world.
“The city of 1,000 trades.”
The current life of Brian
“After a year on chemotherapy and radiotherapy I haven’t got much of an immune system,” says Brian, whose haunting sax playing on UB40's first hit Food For Thought remains an enduring legacy in British musical history.
“So I’ve been on lockdown since two weeks before Christmas.
“The last scan I had showed I was completely clear (of cancer) - I am supposed to be having another one in April.
