Spandau Ballet
Encyclopedia
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk
, jazz
, soul
and synthpop
. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in the UK between 1980 and 1990. The band split acrimoniously in 1990 but announced their reunion in March 2009, complete with a sold-out world tour that began in October 2009.
and Steve Norman
on guitar, later saxophone and percussion. Kemp and Norman were both attending Dame Alice Owen's School
, Islington
, and were close friends, as they shared a similar interest in music and a common desire to form a band. They were joined by fellow student John Keeble
, who had met Norman through storing his drum kit in the school's music room and would regularly meet at lunchtimes to practice. John was followed by bass player Michael Ellison. Tony Hadley
, who knew Norman, then joined as lead singer. After a few months, Richard Miller replaced Michael Ellison on bass, before Kemp's brother, Martin Kemp, finally took over the role, joining the band a couple of years later. By this time, the band had already gained some live experience. Steve Dagger, a close schoolfriend of the band members, was then asked by Steve Norman and Gary Kemp to manage them. He was to be an integral part of the band's initial and continuing success
The band was called 'The Makers' in the early years, but profess to having changed their name after a friend of the band, journalist and DJ Robert Elms
, saw the name scrawled on the wall of a nightclub lavatory during a visit to Berlin. The new Spandau Ballet, with Martin Kemp and Tony Hadley, began performing with this name and generating a positive buzz around London. Their music prior to then was in the style of the early Rolling Stones or The Kinks
, but became more electronic as they began to hang out in clubs such as Billy's and Blitz
, where they would listen to bands like Kraftwerk
and Telex
. The Blitz was regarded as the birthplace of a new 1980s music and fashion phenomenon called New Romanticism.
The band was involved in a major bidding war, but eventually signed to Chrysalis Records
and released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by the electronic musician Richard James Burgess
. Released just ten days after the band emerged from the studio in order to meet the huge demand created by the buzz they had established, "To Cut a Long Story Short" was an instant British top 5 hit in 1980. This was followed by hits with "The Freeze", "Musclebound" and the well-received and Gold-certified album Journeys to Glory in 1981. The sound of Journeys to Glory was typified by chanted vocals, a splashy snare drum sound, strongly rhythmic guitar parts and a lack of guitar solos; the hallmarks of what would become known as the New Romantic sound and the sound of the early eighties.
The follow-up album, Diamond, also produced by Burgess, was released in 1982. This album was certified Gold by the BPI and featured the funk-flavoured single "Chant No. 1". The band had Burgess remix every single from both albums for inclusion on each single's B-side and for twelve-inch club releases. These mixes were later released as a boxed set. However, times were changing. The second single from Diamond was "Paint Me Down", which broke their run of top 20 hits by stalling at #30, and 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. The explosive, bombastic remix, which was backed with a special dance remix of Chant No. 1 on the 12" single version was very well received, and returned the band to the UK top ten after the poor chart performance of their previous two singles. Both the 7" and 12" single featured the well crafted ballad "Gently" on the B-side, which has never appeared on any album or compilation released by the band.
, produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley
, in March 1983. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the band. The album topped the charts all around the world, and launched several international hit singles, such as "Gold
" and the aforementioned title track which reached number 1 in several countries. In 1991, P.M. Dawn sampled the song "True" in "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss
", which also became a hit song.
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", also became the band's last American hit. At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid
charity single and in 1985 they performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid
. During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation, The Singles Collection, which kept the focus on the band between two studio albums and celebrated their five years of success.
In 1986, Spandau Ballet signed to WEA/Universal and CBS Records and released Through the Barricades, which saw the band trying to move away from the pop and soul influences of True and Parade and more towards rock. The album, the title track and the single "Fight For Ourselves" were big hits in Europe and Australia, but not in the United States.
, the band released Heart Like a Sky in September 1989.
The album was not widely released (not at all in the US) and was for the most part disregarded. It did, however, do well in Italy - where its singles "Raw" and "Be Free with Your Love" reached the Top 10 - and in the Netherlands. Afterwards, Spandau Ballet, from whom Gary Kemp was already feeling estranged, split up.
, while Tony Hadley tried to establish a solo career. Gary Kemp did a little more acting, appearing in a supporting role in the Whitney Houston
hit The Bodyguard
, and in 1995 he released his first and only solo album, Little Bruises.
In the 1990s, Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched a failed court case against Gary Kemp for a share of Kemp's song-writing royalties. Although initially vowing to appeal the verdict, they later decided against this. 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 tour under the moniker of 'Hadley, Norman and Keeble, ex-Spandau Ballet'.
After leaving Eastenders, Martin Kemp continued acting in various high profile projects as well as appearing on TV in other guises. Martin has also just released his first written and directed film, "Martin Kemp's Stalker". Gary Kemp wrote songs with Paul Stratham, who had previously written songs for Dido
, continued acting on stage, in film and in television, and worked on the musicals "Begbug" and "A Terrible Beauty" with Guy Pratt. Steve Norman moved to Ibiza, where he formed a lounge band, Cloudfish, with Rafa Peletey and Shelley Preston
in 2001. Tony Hadley released three studio albums, landed the lead role in the musical Chicago
and won the ITV reality show Reborn in the USA
. In 1999, Hadley appeared as a guest vocalist on the Alan Parsons
album The Time Machine, performing lead vocals on the song "Out Of The Blue".
also mentioned during his BBC Radio 2
programme on 21 March 2009 that he was aware that the band were re-forming and had been invited to the band's reunion party.
The band eventually confirmed the rumours at a press conference held on 25 March 2009 on board HMS Belfast in London (a return to the venue of one of their first ever gigs) to announce their comeback tour. The band began a world tour in October 2009, starting with eight dates across Ireland and the UK, the first of which was in Dublin on 13 October 2009. The tickets for the UK and Ireland shows went on pre-sale on the official Spandau Ballet website on 25 March 2009. These then went on general release on 27 March 2009. For the general release tickets, the London O2 arena
tickets sold out within 20 minutes and an extra two dates were added there because of demand. The band also announced an extra date in Birmingham and added Liverpool to the tour. They gave their "first public performance and interview anywhere in the world for 19 years" on Jonathan Ross's BBC television show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
on 24 April 2009.
The group released both their new album Once More
, which featured two new songs plus reworked versions of their previous material, and the single of the same name on 19 October 2009.
Virgin Media awarded Spandau Ballet as the Best Comeback of 2009 in their Virgin Media Awards.
On 22 January 2010, the German designer Michael Michalsky
invited Spandau Ballet to perform live at his event StyleNite
in Berlin's Friedrichstadtpalast.
appeared on the ABC
sitcom Modern Family
as Izzy LaFontaine, a fictional bass player/backup vocalist for Spandau Ballet, in the episode "Great Expectations
".
Dave Clifton, a fictional radio presenter on the British TV show "I'm Alan Partridge" mentions he's friends with Tony Hadley, having met him at his archery lessons.
are hosted annually by the music magazine Q
. Spandau Ballet has received one award.
|-
| 2009
| Spandau Ballet
| The Q Idol
|
are the British Phonographic Industry
's annual pop music awards. Spandau Ballet has received one award from one nomination.
|-
| 1984
| Spandau Ballet
| The Sony Award For Technical Excellence
|
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in the UK between 1980 and 1990. The band split acrimoniously in 1990 but announced their reunion in March 2009, complete with a sold-out world tour that began in October 2009.
Formation and first successes
The band was formed in 1976 and was originally called 'The Cut', with Gary KempGary Kemp
Gary Kemp is an English pop musician and actor who is the guitar player and chief songwriter for the 1980s Synthpop band Spandau Ballet. His brother, Martin Kemp, plays bass guitar in the band...
and Steve Norman
Steve Norman
Steve Norman is an English musician who plays saxophone, guitar, percussion, and other instruments, for Spandau Ballet.-Early career:Steve Norman was initially a guitarist in the group with Gary Kemp...
on guitar, later saxophone and percussion. Kemp and Norman were both attending Dame Alice Owen's School
Dame Alice Owen's School
Dame Alice Owen's School is a mixed voluntary aided secondary school in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England, founded in the London Borough of Islington.-Admissions:...
, Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, and were close friends, as they shared a similar interest in music and a common desire to form a band. They were joined by fellow student John Keeble
John Keeble
John Keeble is a British pop musician, who is the drummer with the 1980s band, Spandau Ballet.Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, after their final studio album, Heart Like a Sky, failed to live up to the critical and commercial success of their earlier albums, such as True and Parade.In 1999, John...
, who had met Norman through storing his drum kit in the school's music room and would regularly meet at lunchtimes to practice. John was followed by bass player Michael Ellison. Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...
, who knew Norman, then joined as lead singer. After a few months, Richard Miller replaced Michael Ellison on bass, before Kemp's brother, Martin Kemp, finally took over the role, joining the band a couple of years later. By this time, the band had already gained some live experience. Steve Dagger, a close schoolfriend of the band members, was then asked by Steve Norman and Gary Kemp to manage them. He was to be an integral part of the band's initial and continuing success
The band was called 'The Makers' in the early years, but profess to having changed their name after a friend of the band, journalist and DJ Robert Elms
Robert Elms
Robert Elms is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for The Face magazine in the 1980s, and has a self-confessed love of clothes and fashion...
, saw the name scrawled on the wall of a nightclub lavatory during a visit to Berlin. The new Spandau Ballet, with Martin Kemp and Tony Hadley, began performing with this name and generating a positive buzz around London. Their music prior to then was in the style of the early Rolling Stones or The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, but became more electronic as they began to hang out in clubs such as Billy's and Blitz
Blitz Kids
The Blitz Kids were a group of young people who frequented the Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden, London in the very early 1980s, and are credited with launching the New Romantic cultural movement...
, where they would listen to bands like Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
and Telex
Telex (band)
The Belgian synth-pop group Telex was formed in 1978 by Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman, and Michel Moers, with the intention of "Making something really European, different from rock, without guitar — and the idea was electronic music." Mixing the aesthetics of disco, punk and experimental electronic...
. The Blitz was regarded as the birthplace of a new 1980s music and fashion phenomenon called New Romanticism.
The band was involved in a major bidding war, but eventually signed to Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
and released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by the electronic musician Richard James Burgess
Richard James Burgess
Richard James Burgess is a studio drummer, music-computer programmer, recording artist, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor. He was the producer for Spandau Ballet's first two albums.-Education:...
. Released just ten days after the band emerged from the studio in order to meet the huge demand created by the buzz they had established, "To Cut a Long Story Short" was an instant British top 5 hit in 1980. This was followed by hits with "The Freeze", "Musclebound" and the well-received and Gold-certified album Journeys to Glory in 1981. The sound of Journeys to Glory was typified by chanted vocals, a splashy snare drum sound, strongly rhythmic guitar parts and a lack of guitar solos; the hallmarks of what would become known as the New Romantic sound and the sound of the early eighties.
The follow-up album, Diamond, also produced by Burgess, was released in 1982. This album was certified Gold by the BPI and featured the funk-flavoured single "Chant No. 1". The band had Burgess remix every single from both albums for inclusion on each single's B-side and for twelve-inch club releases. These mixes were later released as a boxed set. However, times were changing. The second single from Diamond was "Paint Me Down", which broke their run of top 20 hits by stalling at #30, and the third single, "She Loved Like Diamond", failed to make the UK Top 40 at all. Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
remixed the track "Instinction", which was released as the fourth single from the album. The explosive, bombastic remix, which was backed with a special dance remix of Chant No. 1 on the 12" single version was very well received, and returned the band to the UK top ten after the poor chart performance of their previous two singles. Both the 7" and 12" single featured the well crafted ballad "Gently" on the B-side, which has never appeared on any album or compilation released by the band.
International fame
With a slicker, more pop sound, the band released their third album TrueTrue (Spandau Ballet album)
-2003 re-release:"True" was re-released in 2003 as a 20th anniversary edition. It was re-released as a single CD with the original eight tracks along with the music video for "Gold" and some Home Video Footage of the band...
, produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley
Jolley & Swain
Steve Jolley and Tony Swain were a successful pop musician, songwriting and record production duo in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1980s, producing some of the top artists and songs of the era....
, in March 1983. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the band. The album topped the charts all around the world, and launched several international hit singles, such as "Gold
Gold (Spandau Ballet song)
"Gold" is a 1983 single by the British new wave band Spandau Ballet from their flagship third album True.The song is Spandau Ballet's 2nd best-charting single behind their previous release "True", reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart , and #29 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart...
" and the aforementioned title track which reached number 1 in several countries. In 1991, P.M. Dawn sampled the song "True" in "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
"Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" is the signature hit by P.M. Dawn from their debut album, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience. Writing credit is given to Attrell Cordes and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet as the song is built around samples of their 1983 hit "True," as well...
", which also became a hit song.
The follow-up album, Parade
Parade (Spandau Ballet album)
-Chart placings:AlbumSinglesBillboard...
, was released in June 1984 and its singles were again big successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
and Canada. The album's opening song, "Only When You Leave", also became the band's last American hit. At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
charity single and in 1985 they performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
. During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation, The Singles Collection, which kept the focus on the band between two studio albums and celebrated their five years of success.
In 1986, Spandau Ballet signed to WEA/Universal and CBS Records and released Through the Barricades, which saw the band trying to move away from the pop and soul influences of True and Parade and more towards rock. The album, the title track and the single "Fight For Ourselves" were big hits in Europe and Australia, but not in the United States.
Break-up
After a hiatus from recording, during which the Kemps established themselves as credible actors in the gangster film The KraysThe Krays (film)
The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...
, the band released Heart Like a Sky in September 1989.
The album was not widely released (not at all in the US) and was for the most part disregarded. It did, however, do well in Italy - where its singles "Raw" and "Be Free with Your Love" reached the Top 10 - and in the Netherlands. Afterwards, Spandau Ballet, from whom Gary Kemp was already feeling estranged, split up.
Later developments
Martin Kemp went on to land an acting role in the UK soap opera EastEndersEastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, while Tony Hadley tried to establish a solo career. Gary Kemp did a little more acting, appearing in a supporting role in the Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
hit The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s,...
, and in 1995 he released his first and only solo album, Little Bruises.
In the 1990s, Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched a failed court case against Gary Kemp for a share of Kemp's song-writing royalties. Although initially vowing to appeal the verdict, they later decided against this. 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 tour under the moniker of 'Hadley, Norman and Keeble, ex-Spandau Ballet'.
After leaving Eastenders, Martin Kemp continued acting in various high profile projects as well as appearing on TV in other guises. Martin has also just released his first written and directed film, "Martin Kemp's Stalker". Gary Kemp wrote songs with Paul Stratham, who had previously written songs for Dido
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
, continued acting on stage, in film and in television, and worked on the musicals "Begbug" and "A Terrible Beauty" with Guy Pratt. Steve Norman moved to Ibiza, where he formed a lounge band, Cloudfish, with Rafa Peletey and Shelley Preston
Shelley Preston
Shelley Preston , is a singer who is most famous for being the new girl when she joined pop group Bucks Fizz in June 1985.- Career :...
in 2001. Tony Hadley released three studio albums, landed the lead role in the musical Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
and won the ITV reality show Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA was a 2003 ITV reality TV show, in which ten former British pop acts were transported to the USA, where they were supposedly not known , in the...
. In 1999, Hadley appeared as a guest vocalist on the Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
album The Time Machine, performing lead vocals on the song "Out Of The Blue".
Reunion
In early 2009, there was much speculation that the band was set to perform later that year. Although the band did not initially comment on these reports, the official Spandau Ballet website encouraged fans to sign up "for an exciting announcement", fueling rumours that a reunion was imminent. Jonathan RossJonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...
also mentioned during his BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
programme on 21 March 2009 that he was aware that the band were re-forming and had been invited to the band's reunion party.
The band eventually confirmed the rumours at a press conference held on 25 March 2009 on board HMS Belfast in London (a return to the venue of one of their first ever gigs) to announce their comeback tour. The band began a world tour in October 2009, starting with eight dates across Ireland and the UK, the first of which was in Dublin on 13 October 2009. The tickets for the UK and Ireland shows went on pre-sale on the official Spandau Ballet website on 25 March 2009. These then went on general release on 27 March 2009. For the general release tickets, the London O2 arena
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...
tickets sold out within 20 minutes and an extra two dates were added there because of demand. The band also announced an extra date in Birmingham and added Liverpool to the tour. They gave their "first public performance and interview anywhere in the world for 19 years" on Jonathan Ross's BBC television show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
on 24 April 2009.
The group released both their new album Once More
Once More (Spandau Ballet album)
Once More is the seventh studio album by British band Spandau Ballet. It was released by Mercury Records on October 19, 2009 in UK and Ireland. The album includes eleven re-recordings from their back catalogue and two newly written songs...
, which featured two new songs plus reworked versions of their previous material, and the single of the same name on 19 October 2009.
Virgin Media awarded Spandau Ballet as the Best Comeback of 2009 in their Virgin Media Awards.
On 22 January 2010, the German designer Michael Michalsky
Michael Michalsky
Michael Michalsky is a German fashion designer and designer of lifestyle products. He is the founder and head designer of the fashion label MICHALSKY. He is also the Creative Director of the luxury handbag manufacturer MCM since 2005...
invited Spandau Ballet to perform live at his event StyleNite
Stylenite
The Stylenite is a cultural event organized by Berlin’s designer Michael Michalsky. It has evolved from Michalsky’s fashion shows and takes place twice a year during Berlin Fashion Week...
in Berlin's Friedrichstadtpalast.
Pop culture references
Academy Award-nominated actor Edward NortonEdward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
appeared on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sitcom Modern Family
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
as Izzy LaFontaine, a fictional bass player/backup vocalist for Spandau Ballet, in the episode "Great Expectations
Great Expectations (Modern Family)
"Great Expectations" is the eighth episode of the ABC series Modern Family. It premiered on ABC in the United States on November 18, 2009. The episode was written by Joe Lawson and directed by Jason Winer.-Plot:...
".
Dave Clifton, a fictional radio presenter on the British TV show "I'm Alan Partridge" mentions he's friends with Tony Hadley, having met him at his archery lessons.
Band members
- Tony HadleyTony HadleyTony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...
– lead vocals, synthesizers - Gary KempGary KempGary Kemp is an English pop musician and actor who is the guitar player and chief songwriter for the 1980s Synthpop band Spandau Ballet. His brother, Martin Kemp, plays bass guitar in the band...
– guitar, keyboards, backing vocals - Martin Kemp – bass
- Steve NormanSteve NormanSteve Norman is an English musician who plays saxophone, guitar, percussion, and other instruments, for Spandau Ballet.-Early career:Steve Norman was initially a guitarist in the group with Gary Kemp...
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, guitar, percussion - John KeebleJohn KeebleJohn Keeble is a British pop musician, who is the drummer with the 1980s band, Spandau Ballet.Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, after their final studio album, Heart Like a Sky, failed to live up to the critical and commercial success of their earlier albums, such as True and Parade.In 1999, John...
– drums, backing vocals
Discography
- Journeys to GloryJourneys to GloryJourneys to Glory is the first studio album by Spandau Ballet. It was released on March 6, 1981 by Chrysalis Records, just ten days after its recording at Trident Studios. The first editions of the vinyl version had an embossed cover. Early CD releases featured the original white cover...
(1981) - Diamond (1982)
- TrueTrue (Spandau Ballet album)-2003 re-release:"True" was re-released in 2003 as a 20th anniversary edition. It was re-released as a single CD with the original eight tracks along with the music video for "Gold" and some Home Video Footage of the band...
(1983) - ParadeParade (Spandau Ballet album)-Chart placings:AlbumSinglesBillboard...
(1984) - Through the Barricades (1986)
- Heart Like a Sky (1989)
- Once MoreOnce More (Spandau Ballet album)Once More is the seventh studio album by British band Spandau Ballet. It was released by Mercury Records on October 19, 2009 in UK and Ireland. The album includes eleven re-recordings from their back catalogue and two newly written songs...
(2009)
Q Awards
The Q AwardsQ Awards
The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behavior of the celebrities who attend the event...
are hosted annually by the music magazine Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
. Spandau Ballet has received one award.
|-
| 2009
| Spandau Ballet
| The Q Idol
|
BRIT Awards
The BRIT AwardsBrit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
are the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
's annual pop music awards. Spandau Ballet has received one award from one nomination.
|-
| 1984
| Spandau Ballet
| The Sony Award For Technical Excellence
|