Spandau Ballet - Biography
By Scott Feemster
Though Spandau Ballet are mainly know in the United States as a slick, neo-soul New Wave band from the early 1980’s, they were actually one of the bands that started the New Romantic movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s, along with such contemporaries as Visage, Adam & The Ants, and Duran Duran. Spandau Ballet had quite a record of successful singles and albums in the early to mid 80’s, but by the end of the ‘80’s musical tastes had changed, and the band slowly faded away.
The group that was to become Spandau Ballet formed around the friendship of primary songwriter/guitarist Gary Kemp and guitarist, then later saxophonist and percussionist, Steve Norman. The two were friends who met at school in the Islington section of central London, and were both keen music fans and made plans to form a band together in their early teens. Their first recruit for their new band was fellow student John Keeble, who discovered a drum set in the school’s music department and proceeded to teach himself how to play. The next member to join was bassist Micheal Ellison. Word got around the school that there was a new band practicing in the music room, and student Tony Hadley approached Norman and asked if he could be the lead singer of the band. The group practiced, and soon Ellison left the line-up, and was replaced by Richard Miller. Miller lasted in the band for over a year, before he left and was replaced on bass by Gary Kemp’s younger brother, Martin Kemp. Originally the band called themselves The Cut, later changing it to The Makers. The group played around London, playing a gritty, R&B influenced type of rock. The members of the band started hanging out at such London post-punk clubs as Billys and Blitz, where many of the clubgoers were developing a scene that revolved around wearing androgynous, frequently outlandish clothes and makeup that recalled glamorous films from the 1930’s and 1940’s mixed with the cold, robotic look of latter-day David Bowie and Kraftwerk. Most of the music played at the clubs was dance music and rock music made with heavy use of synthesizers, so the group purchased some lower-priced synthesizers and incorporated them into their emerging sound. A name change seemed in order, too, so the group changed their name to Spandau Ballet. It was originally reported that the name came from some graffiti a friend of theirs had seen in a restroom in Berlin, (“Spandau Ballet” being a crude term for the jerking action Nazi war criminals made while being hanged in Berlin’s infamous Spandau Prison), but it was later revealed that their was an entirely different band playing around London circa 1978 with the same name, and that the band that became Spandau Ballet must have knowingly or unknowingly lifted the name from the previous band once they disbanded. Regardless, by 1979, Spandau Ballet were at the middle of a new fashion movement called New Romanticism, and were soon the subject of a major label bidding war. Reportedly, the head of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, offered to sign the band on the spot after seeing them perform at a party, but the group, with the help of their manager, (and old school chum), Steve Dagger, set up their own label, Reformation, and signed a distribution deal with Chrysalis Records, thus giving them the power of a major label’s distribution strength combined with the added control they could maintain over their own finances and creativity.
Soon after the deal was struck with Chrysalis, Spandau Ballet entered the recording studio, and released their debut single “To Cut A Long Story Short”, released in 1980, just ten days after the band recorded the song. The song became an instant hit, reaching the #5 position on the British charts, and landed the photogenic band on the cover of most of the British music and fashion magazines. The group followed “To Cut A Long Story Short” with two more hit singles, “The Freeze” and “Musclebound”, before releasing their debut album, Journeys To Glory (Chrysalis) in February of 1981. The album was produced by noted electronic musician/producer Richard James Burgess , and emphasized the group's rhythmic, danceable sound, a mix of chanted vocals, funk basslines, choppy guitar and glassy, elegant sounding synthesizers. The group followed up the success of Journeys To Glory with their next album, Diamond (Chrysalis), released in early 1982. Also produced by Burgess, Diamond further expanded on the dance sound the band had established on their first album. With Burgess, the band made sure to make extended dance remixes for every single so they could get play in dance clubs as well as on the radio. The group scored another big hit with the funky, horn-driven single “Chant No. 1” off of the album, but the groups next two singles, “Paint Me Down” and “She Loved Like Diamond” didn't fare as well, most likely due to the fickle British music public starting to turn away from the New Romantic sound towards other groups and sounds.
Seeing that a change was due in their sound and image, the group exchanged the makeup and swashbuckling clothes of their first two albums for slicked-back hair and smartly tailored suits, and adopted a neo-soul, almost smooth jazz sound for their next album, True (Chrysalis), released in March of 1983. The album became a huge hit around the world, and was finally the album that broke them into the U.S. market in a big way for the first time. The group had multiple hit singles off of the album, including the title cut, “Communication”, “Lifeline” and “Gold”. Videos were made for each of the singles, and with the band's slick, mainstream pop sound and the photogenic good looks of the band members, they were a hit on the then-new MTV cable channel. Though the group's sound relied less overtly on synthesizers, the group gained an auxiliary member in keyboard player Jess Bailey during this period, as he helped contribute to their albums and also appeared live on stage with them for the next couple of years. After the success of True, Spandau Ballet continued the formula for their next album, Parade (Chrysalis), released in 1984. Though they had another American hit with the first single off of the album, “Only When You Leave”, Parade didn't fare as well as their previous album in the U.S., though it was still a big hit in Europe, Canada and Australia. In 1985, singer Tony Hadley participated in the Band Aid single “Do They Know Its Christmas”, and the group also appeared at Live Aid that same year. Chrysalis also released a compilation album, The Singles Collection, the same year, collecting all of the band's hits, and it eventually earned platinum sales status. With it's recording contract with Chrysalis done, Spandau Ballet signed with Epic Records and released their next album, Through The Barricades, in late 1986. The album saw the band move toward a less soul, more rock-oriented sound. Through The Barricades, and it's singles “Fight For Ourselves” and the title cut, were a big hit in the U.K., Australia and Europe, but Spandau Ballet never again were a pop force in the U.S.
The group took a break after Through The Barricades, allowing the Kemp brothers to pursue their acting careers, including a memorable performance together as the title characters in the 1989 British gangster film The Krays. When the group got back together again in 1989, they recorded and released the album Heart Like A Sky (Reformation), but by then the steam had gone out of the band, and following lackluster sales of Heart Like A Sky, the group disbanded in 1990. Both of the Kemp brothers continued with their acting careers, Gary appearing in numerous films and television shows throughout the '90's and 2000's, including parts in The Bodyguard and The Larry Sanders Show, while Martin became a regular on the British soap opera EastEnders. Both Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp released solo albums in the '90's, but neither of them stirred up much interest. Though in recent years rumors have circled about the band possibly reforming in celebration of the 30 year anniversary of their formation, recently Hadley has stated that the rumors are untrue, and that there are no plans to reconvene the band.