Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet (/ˈspændaʊ ˈbæleɪ/ SPAN-dow BAL-ay) were an English pop band formed in
Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene,
they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing
"European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience.[7][8][9] They
became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop[10] and
were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25
million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide.[11][12][13] The band have had eight UK top
10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material.
Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners
Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.[14]
The band's classic lineup featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals, his
brother Martin Kemp on bass, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and
drummer John Keeble. Gary Kemp was also the band's songwriter. Their debut single "To
Cut a Long Story Short" reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980 and was the first of ten UK top-10
singles. The band peaked in popularity in 1983 with the album True, as its title track reached
No. 1 in the UK and the top 5 in the US. In 2011, it received a BMI award as one of the
most-played songs in US history with four million airplays.[15] In 1984, they received a Brit
Award for technical excellence and were the first act to be approached by Bob Geldof to join
the original Band Aid lineup.[16] In 1985, they performed at the Live Aid benefit concert at
Wembley Stadium.
In 1990, the band played their last live show before a 19-year absence. In 1999, Hadley,
Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful case in the High Court against Gary Kemp
and his Reformation Publishing Company for a share of the band's songwriting royalties.[17]
Spandau Ballet reformed in 2009 for The Reformation Tour, a sell-out "greatest hits" world
tour. In 2014, their archive-only feature-length documentary biopic, Soul Boys of the Western
World,[18] was world-premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was officially
screened at the Rome, Ghent (Belgium) and NYC Doc film festivals and received its
European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
In 2017, Hadley left Spandau Ballet.[19] A year later, singer and actor Ross William Wild
became their new frontman for a series of European live dates and a one-off show at
Eventim's Hammersmith Apollo.[20][21] In May 2019, Wild tweeted that he had quit the band "to
pursue my own music with my band Mercutio",[22] while Spandau bass player Martin Kemp
confirmed there were no further plans for Spandau to tour without original singer Hadley.[23]

History

1976–1982: Formation and early success[edit]

Gary Kemp and Steve Norman first decided to form a band, both playing guitar, in October
1976 after witnessing the Sex Pistols perform that summer at Islington's Screen on the
Green.[24] Close friends and school mates at Dame Alice Owen's in Islington, they were
joined by John Keeble on drums, Michael Ellison on bass and Tony Hadley on vocals when
the school relocated to Potters Bar. They rehearsed at lunchtimes in the school's music
room, playing sped-up versions of the Rolling Stones' "Silver Train",[25] the Beatles' "I Wanna
Be Your Man" and the Animals' "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place". They also played an
original Gary Kemp composition, "I've Got Roots", which inspired their band name, Roots.[26]
Their first gig was a fourth-form Christmas party December 1976 in the school dining
room.[27]
The band changed their name to The Cut when Michael Ellison left, with Steve Norman
filling in on bass.[28] In 1977 another Alice Owen pupil, Richard Miller, took over on bass
guitar and the band changed their name to The Makers, playing power-pop compositions by
Gary Kemp or Steve Norman, with titles like "Fantasy Girl" and "Pin-Ups", inspired by
mid-sixties bands like the Small Faces.[29] They received a number of positive gig reviews
from the British music press in Sounds and the New Musical Express.[30] The band changed
personnel and name once more when their manager, friend and fellow Dame Alice Owen's
schoolmate Steve Dagger suggested Martin Kemp be brought in as their bass player after
seeing how much attention he got from The Makers' female fans when he was their
roadie.[31] The band was now called Gentry and Martin played his first gig on 1 July 1978 at
the Middlesex Polytechnic in Cockfosters.[32]
Inspired by London's new underground nightclub scene, which began in Autumn 1978 with a
weekly Tuesday night hosted by Steve Strange and DJ Rusty Egan at Billy's in Soho,[33] the
band switched musical direction to embrace the new electronic music. Friend and writer
Robert Elms suggested they change their name to Spandau Ballet, a phrase which he told
them he had seen written on a wall on a weekend trip to Berlin: “Rudolf Hess, all alone,
dancing the Spandau Ballet”.[34] Their first performance was an invitation-only showcase on
the morning of Saturday 17 November 1979, at Halligan's Band Centre rehearsal studio, 103
Holloway Road,[35] to test the reaction of the key influencers of the new scene. Having
passed that 'audition', the band's first gig as Spandau Ballet was at the Blitz's Christmas
party on 5 December 1979.[36]

Journeys to Glory[edit]
A series of exclusive 'secret' gigs in 1980 at unique non-rock venues like the Scala cinema[37]
and the cruiser HMS Belfast, advertised only by word-of-mouth, created the hype for a major
record companies bidding war.[38] After the band signed with Chrysalis Records, they
released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by Landscape’s Richard James Burgess. It
became a top five hit on the UK charts in late 1980, as well as reaching the top 20 in
Australia, Ireland and Spain. Their second single, "The Freeze", was another top 20 hit in the
UK, Ireland and Spain, followed by the double A-side "Musclebound/Glow" and the
gold-certified debut album Journeys to Glory in early 1981.
The band played their first US showcase in May 1981 at New York's Underground Club, on
17th and Broadway, with a fashion show by Axiom, a co-operative of the London club
scene's new clothes designers including Sade Adu.[39] Spandau were the first UK pop band
to perform live at the world-famous Ku Club in Ibiza.[40]
Reflecting the rapidly evolving club scene and Soho's hippest new nightspot, Le Beat Route
on Greek Street, the band changed musical directions again,[41] releasing the funk single
"Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", which was a No. 3 hit in the UK while
reaching No. 17 in the US on Billboard magazine's Disco Top 100 in 1981.[42] The song was
championed by DJ Frankie Crocker on WBLS.[43]
Diamond[edit]
The follow-up album, Diamond, also produced by Burgess, was released in 1982. This
album was certified gold by the BPI. The band had Burgess remix every single from both
albums for inclusion on each single's B-side and for 12-inch club releases. These mixes
were later released as a boxed set. However, the second single from Diamond was "Paint
Me Down", which broke their run of top 20 hits by stalling at No. 30. The third single, "She
Loved Like Diamond", failed to make the UK top 40 at all.
Trevor Horn remixed the track "Instinction", which was released as the fourth single from the
album. Backed with a special dance remix of "Chant No. 1" on the 12-inch single version, the
release was very well received. It returned the band to the UK top 10 after the poor chart
performance of their previous two singles.

1983–1989: International success[edit]

True[edit]
The band released their third album, True, in March 1983. Produced by Tony Swain and
Steve Jolley, the album featured a slicker pop sound and was recorded at Compass Point in
the Bahamas. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the
band.[44] The title track gave the band their first UK No. 1 single. It was a multi-format hit in
the US, reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and
US Cash Box and also entering the US R&B charts. The band played four sell-out shows at
The Wilton and The Palace, Los Angeles, in December 1983.[45] The song was also a No. 1
in Ireland and Canada and top 5 in the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. It
won a BMI award as one of the most played songs in history when it passed four million
airplays in the United States, the equivalent of 22 years' continuous play.[46]
The follow-up single, "Gold", reached No. 2 in the UK and the top 5 in Belgium, Ireland and
Spain. The album topped the charts internationally, spent 64 consecutive weeks in the top
100 albums chart[47] and reached No. 19 on the US Billboard 200. The singles "Gold" and
"Communication" peaked at numbers 29 and 59 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. On
their UK tour they were the first rock band to play Sadler's Wells and the Royal Festival
Hall.[48]

Parade and Live Aid period[edit]

The follow-up album, Parade, was released in June 1984, and its singles were again big
successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania and Canada. The album's opening song, "Only
When You Leave", became the band's last American hit. The band's first top 10 single in
Italy was "I'll Fly for You", a success they repeated later with the singles "Fight for Ourselves"
and "Through the Barricades." At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid
charity single alongside chart rivals Duran Duran, Culture Club and Wham! and in 1985
performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid[49] to a global audience estimated at 1.9
billion. The "Spandau Ballet World Parade 84–85" was the group's biggest tour to date,
spanning Europe, America, the Far East and, for the first time, Australia and New Zealand.
Their UK tour ended with six record-breaking nights at Wembley Arena. During the second
show at LA's Universal Amphitheatre, Steve Norman tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his
knee and the rest of the tour was cancelled.[50] This also resulted in the cancellation of a
proposed summer tour of Spain and Italy and a planned six-week tour of the United States
supporting the Power Station.[51]
During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation The
Singles Collection, which kept the focus on the band between studio albums and celebrated
its five years of success. However, the album was released by Chrysalis Records without the
band's approval and the band instigated legal action against the label.

Through the Barricades[edit]

After a bitter court case with Chrysalis, Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records for £1.5
million in 1986 and released their fifth studio album, Through the Barricades. With producer
Gary Langan, the band moved away from their pop and soul influences to create a stadium
rock sound. A dispute between Our Price Records and Sony over trading arrangements
resulted in the Our Price chain and its chart return shops refusing to stock any CBS singles,
which affected the record sales of their first single release, "Fight for Ourselves".[52] Though it
peaked at 15 in the UK, it was a top 10 hit in Italy and the Netherlands. The title track, a
personal favourite of Kemp and Hadley and inspired by the killing of a friend, Thomas
"Kidso" Reilly in Belfast by Private Ian Thain,[53] reached the top 10 in the UK and in Europe,
as did the album.[54]
This was followed in 1986/87 by the band's largest European concert tour to date, "Through
the Barricades – Across the Borders", with six record-breaking nights at the Ahoy Stadium in
Rotterdam, another six nights at London's Wembley Arena, 80,000 at Casa de Campo in
Madrid and 50,000 at an open-air concert in Treviso.[55] Hadley and Gary Kemp performed
"Through the Barricades" for the Prince's Trust at Wembley Arena with the 'house band' of
Eric Clapton, Midge Ure and Phil Collins and "With a Little Help from My Friends" with
George Harrison and Ringo Starr.[56] In 1988, the band played for the King of Spain in front of
the Royal Palace in Barcelona, on the same bill as Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé,
to launch the campaign for the 1992 Olympics.

Heart Like a Sky[edit]

After a hiatus from recording, the band released their next album, Heart Like a Sky, initially
titled Home, in September 1989. For the first time, new working methods were employed, as
Gary Kemp demoed his new songs programming the drums, keyboards and bass on a
porta-studio with Toby Chapman, Spandau's session keyboard player, rather than rehearsing
with the band.[57] The album and its singles were not successful in the UK[58] and the album
was not released in the United States. Nevertheless, the band continued to have success in
Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, where the singles "Raw" and "Be Free with
Your Love" entered the top 40.[59] The album included "Motivator", the first song written by
Steve Norman for the band since The Makers.