WHAT A SPANDAU BARNEY!
It’s one of the most toxic bust-ups in pop. Now, after his acrimonious split from Martin and Gary Kemp, a furious Tony Hadley Zooms JAN MOIR to fume: ‘I’d rather be happy on my own than be in that band again’...
oblivious to domestic gaffes. ‘Oh, he has been brilliant, inspirational,’ he continues, chuntering on about Joe Wicks. ‘I mean, what are you going to do? Are you going to eat yourself stupid and drink yourself stupid, or are you going to get up and exercise?’
It is hard to imagine this equable man was once so incensed by the division of earnings between Spandau Ballet’s members that he took Gary Kemp to court in 1999, to sue for a share of his royalties.
As the songwriter, it was Gary who received the lion’s share of the group’s earnings — that is where all the money is in pop music.
That’s why Gary has a large Georgian townhouse on the finest square in Bloomsbury, Central London, complete with an elegant drawing room filled with E.W. Godwin furniture, an etching by Augustus John and first editions of Aubrey Beardsley’s Yellow Book.
Hadley lost the court case, which he says cost him more than £1million. I suggest it is interesting that despite being an avowed socialist, Gary kept the money — to which he was entitled — instead of sharing more of it with the group.
‘I couldn’t possibly comment,’ says Hadley and takes a big gulp of hot tea.
Many songwriters give their bandmates song writing credits to share around the spoils, but that seems not to have been the case here. All along there were clearly issues over how the band was run.
After Hadley left for good three years ago, the group hired another singer, Ross William Wild.
After a year with them, Wild said in an interview that he was so humiliated by the way he had been treated by Spandau Ballet he tried to commit suicide.
‘I was made to look like I wasn’t worth s***,’ he said.
‘Magnify that about 100 times,’ says Tony, ‘and then you might realise why I left. I had re-joined Spandau with a good heart, but I just got to the point where I thought I honestly cannot do this any more. They want me back but it ain’t going to happen. I’d rather be happy on my own than be in that band again.’
To this end, he has a new single out called Obvious and has been performing live in drive-in theatres. His new suitcases are for a postpandemic tour — you can’t say he is not optimistic.
Despite it all, despite having his biscuit head bitten off and being depicted with devil horns, (grow up, Kemps) Hadley claims he has no animosity towards his former band member friends.
‘I genuinely wish them well and hope they feel the same about me — I’m moving forwards,’ he says.
He is certainly having a good lockdown. Not only has he lost weight and looks splendid, I love his weekly Instagram shout out, where he grabs a drink and sings a song for fans in what he calls his ‘small music room’. There, he has rigged up a camera on ‘a bit of f driftwood’ to make his very own selfie stick. There is a microphone into which he belts a Frank Sinatra number or sometimes Mott The Hoople — but if I stuck my head out of my window in West London, I could probably hear him live.
Alison is now making dinner, one ear cocked in a husbandly direction, as Tony sums up the situation so far.
‘I have a pretty good life. I don’t dwell in the past, that is dangerous. I have no regrets and try to learn from my mistakes. Maybe I haven’t had everything that’s owed to me over the years, but I have five lovely children, a beautiful wife and I live in a lovely house.’
All this and an outdoor kitchen with cupboards? Tony really is living a charmed existence.
He still loves working and says he will never retire. ‘Thank God, my voice can still sing in all the original keys. Sometimes I can even manage higher than I ever did before,’ he says.
So now he is calmer, happier and thinner, but shorter with a higher voice? He’s indestructible.
Tony’s new single obvious is out now. For tour dates, visit: www.livenation.co.uk/ artist/tony-hadley-tickets