I’M AN OLD ROMANTIC
Spandau Ballet star looks back at the 80s, meeting wife Shirlie and being a parent to two successful kids
FORMER Spandau Ballet hunk Martin Kemp has admitted his early parenting “was done over a fax machine”. The 59-year-old bass player for the New Romantic group was travelling the world when his wife Shirlie gave birth to their daughter Harley in 1989. Son Roman would follow in 1993.
Martin said: “When I was away with the band, it was difficult. All my early parenthood was done over a fax machine as we didn’t have mobiles in those days.
“I used to send Harley puzzles and jokes and drawings to keep in touch.
“More recently, I’ve found that going away can sometimes be a good thing because it makes everybody appreciate you when you come back. Absence can make the heart grow stronger.”
Not that he can do that at the moment but despite being one of the most lustedafter pop stars of the 80s and in one of the decade’s defining groups, his marriage to Shirlie, a backing singer with Wham!, has lasted the course and their kids have kept their heads and found their own paths.
Roman, 27, is the well-loved breakfast show DJ on Capital and Harley, 31, runs her own film production company and released a debut single last year.
Martin said: “I’m very proud of Harley and Roman, not because of what they’ve achieved but who they are. They’re really nice people.”
As parents have again had to become “teachers” by helping to home school their children in the latest lockdown, Martin offered one bit of advice.
He said: “Listen. Listening is just as important as teaching, and you can learn a lot from your children.
“Don’t just shut it down if you disagree with your kid because their side of the argument is important to them. Sometimes they might be right.”
Martin fell for Shirlie after seeing her perform with Wham! on Top of the Pops.
After they met at an event they swapped numbers but she didn’t call him for three weeks. She’d already developed a crush on him after seeing him in a magazine but was worried he was out of her league.
Eventually he took her on a date but she brought along her best friend George Michael as a chaperone.
Martin and Shirlie began dating in 1983 and married in 1988. George, who died in 2015, was godfather to both children. As they near 40 years together, the bond is still as strong as ever.
Shirlie was at his side when Martin was disgnosed with two benign brain tumours in 1995. They were operated on successfully but left him having to take medication for epilepsy.
In 2019, the couple reached No12 with their album In The Swing Of It.
Martin said: “I think when you’re together that long you become one person.
“I’m as proud of Shirlie when she achieves something as I am of myself. I’m sure she would say the same. I don’t
think there’s much I could have done without her.”
Martin and his older brother Gary were from Islington, London, and appeared as child actors in TV classics Jackanory, Dixon of Dock Green and The Tomorrow People.
He left school at 16 and ended up working in a print factory. Bored, he left when Gary started a band called The Gentry and the manager told him good-looking Martin should replace the group’s bassist.
The band, renamed Spandau Ballet, included Tony Hadley, John Keeble and Steve Norman and became the house band for the New Romantic era in the early 80s.
For their video for debut single To Cut a Long Story Short most of the band wore tartan but there was no Scottish link, just that tartan was the in thing because of London club Le Kilt, which was decorated in plaid.
Martin still has some of the tartan outfits he wore in the early 80s.
He said: “Lots of it disappeared over the years but I’ve got some of it vacuum sealed somewhere at the back of my wardrobe.”
As well as the huge success of the True hitmakers, Martin showed his acting chops with Gary in The Krays and as Steve Owen in EastEnders.
Last year, he teamed up with Roman to do their own show Sunday Best! and Celebrity Googlebox.
Martin said: “Those two shows kept me sane because we were in lockdown while filming them.
“We created our own bubble, so Roman would come over and we would shoot but it was obviously more than work for me.”
Like many of us, Martin admitted that he has been struggling with cabin fever in the year of the pandemic. He said: “During the first lockdown, I kept myself busy and it was kind of new and bright and sunny, which made it easier for people with gardens.
“The second one [in England] I found really difficult, staying indoors while it’s grey and rainy. You need something to cheer yourself up.”
In this mid-winter lockdown, Martin has developed his own coping strategy – a home gym.
He said: “I set one up on my patio with a bike, some weights and a bench, just to get my adrenaline going.
“The older you get, the more you realise that the gym isn’t just physical, it’s about mental well-being too.
“That’s my strategy with everything
– when I find myself in a hole, go to the gym and work it out.”
Spandau split in 1999 and reformed in 2009 but singer Tony quit in 2017 and although they tried a new singer it didn’t work out. Gary has publicly asked Tony to rejoin and said the group won’t reform unless it’s the original five.
Martin looks back at his time in the band with great fondness.
He said: “I loved it, and it was an incredible way to grow up.
“I was 17 when I started, and on my 18th birthday I signed our first record contract.
“We spent 10 years at the top of our game – probably one of the biggest bands in the world. I will always be thankful for what
Spandau Ballet gave me.”
His career highlight was when the group played on Band Aid’s 1984 single Do They Know It’s Christmas? and at Live Aid in 1985.
Martin said: “Most things become historic in retrospect, and that was the only time I knew something was going to be historic, even while I was doing it.
“Two billion people watched it. It would take some going to beat that.”
And if he had his time again he’d tell the young Martin to enjoy the Journeys to Glory. He said: “When Spandau started, we wanted to play to 3000 people in the Hammersmith Odeon.
“But by the time we got there, all we wanted to do was play to 10,000 people at Wembley. Stand back, and take the time to enjoy your successes.”
I knew it would be historic while I was doing it MARTIN KEMP ON APPEARING AT LIVE AID