Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet were a British new wave pop group established in the London area in 1979. Starting out as a punk band under the name of The Makers in late 1976, friends and group member Tony Hadley, Steve Norman, John Keeble, and brothers Martin and and Gary Kemp, moved into creating a more power-pop sound under the name of Gentry before finally becoming Spandau Ballet and adopting more electronic elements into their music. The group soon become a regular live feature on the London club circuit, establishing a cult following as gigs were often secret or previously unannounced.

Their breakthrough came with their debut single To Cut a Long Story Short, a top 5 hit in late 1980, swiftly followed by two more top twenty hits, The Freeze and a remix of Musclebound and a successful debut album Journeys to Glory. The group became firmly associated with the New Romantic movement, thanks also to an original choice of clothing and image. Spandau Ballet adopted a funkier sound in the summer of 1981 with tracks like Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) and Instinction, taken from the Diamond album, before becoming international pop stars from 1983 onwards with hits like True (the group's first and only no.1), Gold and Through the Barricades. At the height of their career they were often depicted as a 'rival' group to contemporaries Duran Duran. The two bands competed against each other on a special edition of Pop Quiz on (!).

After a slow demise towards the end of the eighties, the group finally broke up in the early nineties after a disagreement over royalties. The non-Kemp menbers contunued to perform under the name of "Hadley, Norman and Keeble, ex-Spandau Ballet" in order to pay off legal fees. Each successively pursued solo projects in music and acting. After much speculation over a possible re-pacification, on 21 March 2009, Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross announced that Spandau Ballwt were re-forming and that he had been invited to the reunion party. This was confirmed by the group themselves at a press conference on 25 March 2009, on board HMS Belfast in London. On 19 October 2009, the group released a new album, Once More, which featured reworked versions of previous hits plus two new songs. A tour ensued in 2010.

A documentary film directed by Julian Temple on the subject of the group entitled Soul Boys of the Western World was released in 2014, and another world tour followed the year after.

On 03 July 2017, Tony Hadley announced on Twitter that due to circumstances beyond his control, he was no longer a member of the band. On 06 June 2018 the group played a live show with new vocalist Ross William Wild.

Discography
UK releases only

* non-album track

** including four weeks at no.1

*** kept off the no.1 spot by KC & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up

Top of the Pops appearances

 * 1980-1981
 * 13 November 1980 - To Cut a Long Story Short (43)
 * 27 November 1980 - To Cut a Long Story Short (11)
 * 22 January 1981 - The Freeze (45)
 * 05 February 1981 - The Freeze repeat of above (17)
 * 02 April 1981 - Musclebound (53)
 * 16 April 1981 - Musclebound (video) (18)
 * 30 April 1981 - Musclebound repeat of 02.04.1981 (13)
 * 16 July 1981 - Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) (18)
 * 30 July 1981 - Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) (video) (3)
 * Christmas Day 1981 - Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)
 * 19821982 TOTP - Instinction - Spandau Ballet
 * 15 April 1982 - Instinction (42)
 * 29 April 1982 - Instinction (video) (22)
 * 13 May 1982 - Instinction repeat of 15.04.1982 (10)
 * 07 October 1982 - Lifeline (28)
 * 21 October 1982 - Lifeline repeat of 07.10.1982 (7)
 * Christmas Day 1982 - Lifeline (opening song)
 * 1983Spandau Ballet - Communication (Top Of The Pops 1983)
 * 24 February 1983 - Communication (24)
 * 10 March 1983 - Communication repeat of above (12)
 * 21 April 1983 - True (10)
 * 28 April 1983 - True (video) (1)
 * 05 May 1983 (1000th edition) - True (video) (1)
 * 12 May 1983 - True (video) (1)
 * 19 May 1983 - True (video) (1)
 * 11 August 1983 - Gold (video) (12)
 * 29 December 1983 - True
 * 1984Spandau Ballet - I'll Fly For You (Top Of The Pops 1984)
 * 07 June 1984 - Only When You Leave (5)
 * 23 August 1984 - I'll Fly For You (23)
 * 06 September 1984 - I'll Fly For You (video) (9)
 * 18 October 1984 - Highly Strung (25)
 * 06 December 1984 - Round & Round (23)
 * 20 December 1984 - Round & Round (video) (20)
 * 27 December 1984 - Only When You Leave
 * 1985
 * no appearances


 * 1986Spandau Ballet - Through The Barricades -Top Of The Pops 1986-
 * 24 July 1986 - Fight For Ourselves (30 - breaker)
 * 31 July 1986 - Fight For Ourselves (15)
 * 06 November 1986 Through the Barricades (20 - breaker)
 * 13 November 1986 - Through the Barricades (8)

Other significant TV appearances

 * 13 July 1980 - 20th Century Box - Live at The Scala Cinema, London (LWT)
 * 18 July 1981 - Aplauso (TVE, Spain)
 * 08 January 1982 - Oxford Road Show (BBC)
 * 24 April 1982 - Get Set For Summer (BBC)
 * 06 May 1982 - Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC) - She Loved Like Diamond and Coffee Club live
 * 30 May 1982 - Multi-Coloured Music Show 1982 (BBC1) - repeat from Swap Shop
 * 05 October 1982 - Razzamatazz (ITV) - Lifeline
 * 25 February 1983 - Oxford Road Show
 * 05 March 1983 - Saturday Superstore (BBC) with Duran Duran! 
 * 14 October 2014 - True Gold (ITV)