Spandau Ballet

New Wave group Spandau Ballet were one of the most successful English acts of the 1980s. Anchored by their chart-topping 1983 hit “True”, the band launched 10 singles into the UK Top 10 between 1980 and 1986. • Spandau Ballet formed as Roots in 1976, after schoolmates Gary Kemp and Steve Norman saw a Sex Pistols gig in London. The group became Spandau Ballet in 1979, and the classic lineup featured Kemp on guitar, his brother Martin Kemp on bass, Norman on saxophone and synthesisers, John Keeble on drums and Tony Hadley as lead vocalist. • The group made an immediate splash in the UK with its first single, 1980’s “To Cut a Long Story Short”, which reached No. 5 on the singles chart. • They landed four more Top 10 hits before “True” hit the top spot (No. 4 in the US) in 1983. The song was the title track to their third album, which also reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 19 in the US. • The group’s fourth album, 1984’s Parade, reached No. 2 in the UK, and yielded four Top 20 singles, including the No. 3 hit “Only When You Leave”. • After playing Live Aid in 1985, Spandau Ballet returned the following year with Through the Barricades, which peaked at No. 7 in the UK—their last Top 10 album for 23 years. • Spandau Ballet’s 1989 album Heart Like a Sky stalled out at No. 31. The group split up in 1990. • A reunited Spandau Ballet reached No. 7 in 2009 with Once More, their first album in 20 years. • Hadley left the group in 2017, and after a handful of live dates in 2018 with a new singer, Ross William Wild, the band split again the following year.