Brief Biography of Spandau Ballet
At the first sound of their name, you will mistake it as another form of ballet that originated in Spandau. Seemingly funny but this has been the common mistake of a number of people.
Spandau Ballet is an all European musical group composed of five men namely Tony Hadley (vocals), Gary Kemp (guitar), Steve Norman (saxophone and percussion), Martin Kemp (bass guitar) and John Keeble (drums). Highly considered as one of the classic favorites- they were hailed as a brave, original and innovative band. Emerging from London’s underground and club scene of the late 70’s, they broke new ground for styles of electronic dance rhythms and white funk. They notched up 20 hit singles and spent a combined total of nearly 500 weeks in the UK charts and achieved album sales in excess of 20 million copies worldwide.
To date, Spandau Ballet has 12 albums which were all internationally acclaimed. They are the following: Journeys To Glory (1981), Diamond (1982), True (1983), Parade (1984), The Singles Collection (1985), The Twelve Inch Mixes (1986), Through The Barricades (1986), Heart Like A Sky (1989), The Best of Spandau Ballet (1991), Gold: The Best Of Spandau Ballet, Reformation (2003) and Spandau Ballet Live.
Before their world-wide success, Spandau Ballet had their own share of humble beginnings. They often played to crowds in the smokey pubs of the East End. After a short trip to Berlin, a major turnaround happened and the rest as they say, is history. By the fall of 1979, November 17th to be exact, a studio was rented with 50 people witnessing the unveiling of the new Spandau Ballet. The debut concert was a smashing sensation that they embarked on gigs only at the most fashionable and trendy spots in London. They began to soar in popularity with their hits where several dealers have been chasing after them. One offer came from Chris Blackwell of Island Records. Spandau Ballet, however, did not wish to sign to any which they thought could put them “at risk of losing their identity and autonomy.” Finally, in October of 1980, they had a record agreement to Chrysalis.
Today, their original compositions are still much in the airwaves through revivals of modern artists like the Backstreet Bots, Black Eyed Peas, Teddy Riley, Rui da Silva and Nelly. Perhaps the most winsome was PM Dawn’s Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, an interpolation of True which took the no.1 spot on the Billboard charts. They have also been featured as soundtracks in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Wedding Singer and Charlie’s Angels.
If you are still wondering where they got their name, it was actually derived from an inscription on a wall near a prison in Spandau, a town in Berlin, Germany.
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