Gary Kemp At 65: From Spandau Ballet Icon To ‘Rockonteurs’ Host

As the 80s music scene evolved again after the pivotal Live Aid concert of 1985, Spandau Ballet’s sound became more muscular and the group maintained a formidable live reputation in Europe, while the hit albums, such as 1986’s Through The Barricades, kept on coming. After 1989’s Heart Like A Sky the band took a break, but, 20 years later, they re-emerged with Once More, featuring reworkings of old tracks alongside two new songs. When the group went back out on the road, their audience was there to greet them. The 2014 documentary Soul Boys Of The Western World also did much to remind fans and critics alike just how significant Spandau Ballet’s achievements had been.

The New Romantics: the cult scene that invented the 80s

In an era long before the advent of internet-driven hype, the influence of the New Romantics shouldn’t be overstated. The London scene that grew out of a handful of clubs, such as Billy’s and The Blitz, had a significant effect on magazine publishers, the record labels always on the lookout for the next big thing, and artists such as David Bowie and Roxy Music, who needed to stay one step ahead of their mainstream audiences. Publications such as The Face – and its junior contemporary Smash Hits – appreciated the colour and energy of the movement that took its influence from Europe and North America, blending progressive rock with the emotive energy of soul and disco music.

“We were convinced we were at the beginning of not only the most exciting decade of our lives, but also an era that would belong to all of us here [on the scene],” Kemp wrote in his 2009 autobiography, I Know This Much. “We accepted the baton and ran for the future.” The British national press – and the serious music papers such as Sounds and NME – were fascinated by the movement that sounded and looked great, and, when Spandau Ballet emerged after a brief but fierce record-label bidding war, the group was swiftly dubbed the scene’s house band (it had played its first proper gig with its classic line-up in Blitz, a wine bar in Great Queen Street, after a quick name change from The Gentry).

Without the best New Romantic bands and those iconic hits – not just Spandau Ballet’s but those from acts such as Visage and Duran Duran – it’s doubtful the medium of the pop video would have caught alight the way it did. Without those pioneers, would MTV and the second British Invasion of the US pop charts have happened? The dominance of club culture of the late 80s also has its genesis in the hedonism of the New Romantics.

Decades later, as we entered the new millennium, fresh acts would return to the sounds pioneered back then. La Roux’s Bulletproof is perhaps an obvious example, but you can hear the New Romantics’ influence in other acts such as Troye Sivan, Florrie and CHVRCHES. Gary Kemp’s ability to ride the wave of a scene such as this and then shape his writing in new directions is testament to his talent, but the colour and energy of that special time has infused everything he has done since.

True: the crucial Gary Kemp classic?

Its lyrics were used to title his autobiography, and it’s arguably the song he will always be most remembered for, but what are Gary Kemp’s own thoughts on True, the track that was inspired by a romantic infatuation that never really took off?

“True was really a song about me and my idea of love,” he told The Guardian years later. “I remember thinking that we no longer wanted to be a cult band. We’d always been about what was hip, but it’s impossible to keep that going when you’ve been on Top Of The Pops six times. We were leaving the London club scene and starting to sell records around the world… When we listened to the playback in the studio, everyone suddenly started singing along, the road crew and everything. I think we knew then it was a No.1.”

Amazingly, True wasn’t the first single lifted from its namesake album (Lifeline and Communication preceded it), but radio DJ demand saw it issued in April 1983, and it was a UK No.1 for four weeks from the end of that month. International success followed, and the track was sampled on the 1991 US chart-topper Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, by PM Dawn. Dozens of covers have added to its legacy over the years, but none can match the original, which has surpassed more than four million plays on US radio alone.

A solo legacy

Coming off the back of a band as successful as Spandau Ballet isn’t easy – even when you are its driving force. Kemp spent a few years focusing on his acting career before issuing his first solo record, in 1995. Little Bruises is a reflective record that finds Kemp looking to his own Celtic heritage for inspiration. A mix of uptempo and slower material gifted the album four singles – An Inexperienced Man, the title track, Standing In Love (The Still Point) and My Lady Soul – of which My Lady Soul was a clear highlight. Former Bow Wow Wow member Leigh Gorman produced the ten-track album, and Kemp toured it in the UK and Ireland.

Fans would have to wait 26 years before Kemp’s next solo project, 2021’s INSOLO, which had a 70s-inspired mood – almost prog-rock in places – and showcased Kemp’s strong guitar playing (it’s easy to forget that, while writing Spandau Ballet’s material, he also played lead guitar for the group). Brother Martin joined on bass for one track, and the whole is a more reflective companion to Little Bruises, with highlights including the songs Ahead Of The Game, Too Much, Waiting For The Band and I Remember You. “I can see ghosts of myself,” Kemp revealed in promotional material for the album, and it’s clear that INSOLO is an attempt to make sense of his considerable legacy.

A return to his acting roots

Almost as soon as Spandau Ballet’s Heart Like A Sky hit the record racks, Kemp and his brother, Martin, had their attentions focused elsewhere. The pair had been picked to play Reggie and Ronnie Kray, the notorious 60s London gangsters, in a movie biopic, The Krays. Gary played Ronnie, and this British production was a big hit after its debut in April 1990. It was a difficult time for Gary, who had been part of Anna Scher’s Children’s Theatre and appeared in a small number of films in the first half of the 70s. “During the filming, I seemed to lose who I was when not Ronnie, suffering feelings of insecurity that often left me dark and depressed,” he recalled.

His next movie role was in the 1992 Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston vehicle, The Bodyguard, which became one of the biggest box-office successes of the decade. Further TV and film roles appealed, but it wasn’t until the new millennium that Kemp took to the West End stage, with parts in musicals and a Harold Pinter season.

Joining forces with childhood hero Nick Mason

Between the Spandau Ballet reunion and 2021’s INSOLO, Kemp made the surprise decision to join another group. A longtime fan of Pink Floyd, he teamed up with drummer Nick Mason’s band, Saucerful Of Secrets, playing guitar and singing vocals on a series of dates that crossed Europe and North America in 2018 and 2019. Plans for more shows were scuppered by the COVID-19 pandemic, although a live album, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets Live At The Roundhouse, was issued in their place.

Turning the spotlight: the ‘Rockonteurs’ podcast

Gary Kemp has spent most of his life somewhere near the centre of attention, so his perspective from the interviewer’s chair on the Rockonteurs podcast carries considerable weight. Bassist Guy Pratt joins him as co-presenter, and the pair take a look at the stories behind many musical acts and their hit records, to understand how the magic happens. Producer Trevor Horn (who reshaped Spandau Ballet’s sound on 1982’s Instinction), Sir Bob Geldof, Mark Knopfler and Paul Cook are just some of the guests who have been featured on this critically acclaimed series.

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