Guitarist and songwriter Gary Kemp and his brother, bassist Martin
Kemp formed the band in 1979, with drummer John Keeble, lead
vocalist Tony Hadley and Steve Norman, who initially played guitar
but later switched to saxophone when the band changed musical
direction.
The band were initially called 'The Makers', but changed their name
after a visit to Spandau (a section of Berlin), the inspiration
being from graffiti one of their roadies, BBC London 94.9 D.J.
Robert Elms, saw there. The band began performing and generating
positive buzz around London as the house band at the Blitz
nightclub, which became regarded as the birthplace of a new 1980s
music and fashion phenomenon called New Romanticism.
The band eventually signed to Chrysalis Records and released "To Cut
a Long Story Short", a British top 5 hit in 1980. This was followed
by "The Freeze" and "Musclebound" and the well-received album
Journeys to Glory (February 1981).
The follow up album Diamond (March 1982) performed poorly, despite a
big hit with "Chant No.1", and the band met with veteran producer
Trevor Horn, who advised them on how to revamp their image and
sound. Horn also took the Diamond album track "Instinction" and gave
it a bombastic dance remix that sounded not unlike the work he would
later do for Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was a massive hit.
With newfound confidence and a cleaner, radio-friendly sound,
Spandau Ballet finally broke into the mainstream with True (February
1983), an album whose title cut was a six-minute opus paying tribute
to the Motown sound (and in some respects, Marvin Gaye). The image
changed too — the cossack outfits and make-up of New Romanticism (which
was dying as a fad in 1983 anyway) had been replaced by smart suits
and well-scrubbed faces. It was at this point that Norman became the
band's sax player. The album topped the charts all around the world,
and launched several international hit singles such as "Gold" and
the aforementioned title cut.
But the followup, Parade (June 1984), was critically drubbed for
failing to move the band's sound forward. Nevertheless, the album
and its singles were again successes in the european charts in 84/85
and the opening song "Only When You Leave" became their last
American hit. At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid
charity single, with Hadley taking a prominent lead vocal role; and
in 1985, they performed at the Wembley end of Live Aid. During this
same year, Spandau Ballet released too a compilation, The singles
collection, to keep the focus on the band between two studio albums,
and celebrate their five years of success.
In 1986 Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records and released Through
the Barricades (October 1986), which saw the band trying to move
away from the pop/soul influences of True and Parade and more
towards rock. The album and the title track were big successes in
their native UK and in Europe, especially in Germany and Italy, but
unfortunately did nothing in the United States. After a hiatus from
recording during which the Kemps established themselves as credible
actors in the gangster film The Krays, the band released Heart Like
a Sky in September 1989. The album bombed (apart from in Italy) and
Spandau Ballet — from whom Gary Kemp was already feeling estranged —
split up for good.
Martin Kemp went on to land an acting role in the UK soap opera
EastEnders, while Tony Hadley floundered trying to establish a solo
career. Gary Kemp did a little more acting, appearing in a
supporting role in the Kevin Costner hit The Bodyguard, and in 1996
released a critically praised solo album, Little Bruises. Gary Kemp
also appears in the theatrical productions on a semi-regular basis.
In the 1990s, Hadley, Keeble and Norman launched a failed court case
against Gary Kemp for a share of Kemp's song writing royalties. As a
result of this loss, all were left feeling embittered and very short
of cash. Since then Hadley's profile been raised by his winning the
ITV reality show Reborn in the USA.
The three non-Kemp members toured as a trio, but as they had to sell
their shares in Spandau Ballet's company to Gary Kemp to pay off
legal debts, and that company owned the rights to the name of
Spandau Ballet, they had to go under the less-than-catchy moniker of
'Hadley, Keeble and Norman, ex-Spandau Ballet'.
Recently Steve Norman and the Kemps have managed to put their
differences behind them and a reunion tour had been mentioned,
however Tony Hadley at present does not wish to go back to his old
band and he continues to tour with his own band which includes John
Keeble on drums.
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