Spandau Ballet 1983-1989: International success and decline What was the first indication of Spandau Ballet's success at the international level? The follow-up album, Parade, was released in June 1984, and its singles were again big successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania and Canada. What were the notable songs from the album Parade? The album's opening song, "Only When You Leave", How did the opening song do on the charts? became the band's last American hit. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records and released the album Through the Barricades, How was the album received by the critics? I don't know.
What did the fans think of the new musical direction?
What did the fans think of the new musical direction?
The band released their third album, True, in March 1983. Produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, the album featured a slicker pop sound. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the band. Preceded by the title track which reached number one in various countries, the album also reached number one in the UK. Their next single, "Gold", reached number 2. The follow-up album, Parade, was released in June 1984, and its singles were again big successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania and Canada. The album's opening song, "Only When You Leave", became the band's last American hit. At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid charity single and in 1985 performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid. During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation The Singles Collection, which kept the focus on the band between studio albums and celebrated its five years of success. However, the album was released by Chrysalis Records without the band's approval and the band instigated legal action against the label. In 1986, Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records and released the album Through the Barricades, in which the band moved away from the pop and soul influences of True and Parade and more toward rock. Though the first single, "Fight for Ourselves" peaked at 15 in the UK, the title track and the album both reached the Top 10 in the UK and Europe. After a hiatus from recording, the band released their next album, Heart Like a Sky, in September 1989. The album and its singles were unsuccessful in the UK, and the album itself was not released in the United States. It did, however, do well in Italy (where its singles "Raw" and "Be Free with Your Love" reached the Top 10) and also in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. CANNOTANSWER
the title track and the album both reached the Top 10 in the UK and Europe.
Spandau Ballet ( ) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

The band's classic line-up featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals, his brother Martin Kemp on bass, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble. Gary Kemp was also the band's songwriter. Their debut single, "To Cut a Long Story Short", reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980. It was the first of ten UK top 10 singles. The band peaked in popularity in 1983 with the album True, with its title track reaching No. 1 in the UK and the top five in the US. In 2011, it received a BMI award as one of the most played songs in US history with four million airplays. In 1984, they received a Brit Award for technical excellence and were the first act to be approached by Bob Geldof to join the original Band Aid line-up. In 1985, they performed at the Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium.

In 1990, the band played their last live show before a 19-year absence. In 1999, Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful case in the High Court against Gary Kemp and his Reformation Publishing Company for a share of the band's songwriting royalties. Spandau Ballet reformed in 2009 for The Reformation Tour, a sell-out "greatest hits" world tour. In 2014, their archive-only feature-length documentary biopic, Soul Boys of the Western World, was world-premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was officially screened at the Rome, Ghent (Belgium) and NYC Doc film festivals and received its European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

In 2017, Hadley announced his departure from Spandau Ballet. A year later, the band announced singer and actor Ross William Wild as their new frontman for a series of European live dates and a one-off show at Eventim's Hammersmith Apollo. In May 2019, Wild tweeted that he had quit the band "to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio", while Spandau bass player Martin Kemp confirmed there were no further plans for Spandau to tour without original singer Hadley.

History

1976–1982: Formation and early success
Gary Kemp and Steve Norman first decided to form a band, both playing guitar, in October 1976 after witnessing The Sex Pistols perform that summer at Islington's Screen on the Green. Close friends and school mates at Dame Alice Owen's in Islington, they were joined by John Keeble on drums, Michael Ellison on bass and Tony Hadley on vocals when the school relocated to Potters Bar. They rehearsed at lunchtimes in the school's music room, playing sped-up versions of The Rolling Stones’ "Silver Train", The Beatles "I Wanna Be Your Man" and The Animals "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place." They also played an original Gary Kemp composition, "I've Got Roots", which inspired their band name, Roots. Their first gig was a fourth-form Christmas party December 1976 in the school dining room.

The band changed their name to The Cut when Michael Ellison left, with Steve Norman filling in on bass. In 1977, another Alice Owen's pupil Richard Miller took over on bass guitar and the band changed their name to The Makers, playing power-pop compositions by Gary Kemp or Steve Norman, with titles like "Fantasy Girl" and "Pin-Ups", inspired by mid-Sixties bands like the Small Faces. They received a number of positive gig reviews from the British music press in Sounds and the New Musical Express. The band changed personnel and name once more when their manager, friend and fellow Dame Alice Owen's schoolmate Steve Dagger suggested Martin Kemp be brought in as their bass player after seeing how much attention he got from The Makers' female fans when he was their roadie. The band was now called Gentry and Martin played his first gig on 1 July 1978 at the Middlesex Polytechnic in Cockfosters.

Inspired by London's new underground nightclub scene, which began in Autumn 1978 with a weekly Tuesday night hosted by Steve Strange and DJ Rusty Egan at Billy's in Soho, the band switched musical direction to embrace the new electronic music. Friend and writer Robert Elms suggested they change their name to Spandau Ballet, a phrase which he told them he had seen written on a wall on a weekend trip to Berlin: “Rudolf Hess, all alone, dancing the Spandau Ballet”. Their first performance was an invitation-only showcase on the morning of Saturday 17 Nov 1979, at Halligan's Band Centre rehearsal studio, 103 Holloway Road, to test the reaction of the key influencers of the new scene. Having passed that 'audition', the band's first gig as Spandau Ballet was at the Blitz's Christmas party on 5 December 1979.

Journeys to Glory
A series of exclusive 'secret' gigs in 1980 at unique non-rock venues like the Scala cinema and the cruiser HMS Belfast, advertised only by word-of-mouth, created the hype for a major record companies bidding war. After the band signed with Chrysalis Records, they released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by Landscape’s Richard James Burgess. It became a Top Five hit in the UK charts in late 1980, as well as reaching the Top 20 in Australia, Ireland and Spain. Their second single, "The Freeze", was another Top 20 hit in the UK, Ireland and Spain, followed by the double A-side "Musclebound/Glow" and the Gold-certified debut album Journeys to Glory in early 1981.

The band played their first US showcase in May 1981 at New York's Underground Club, on 17th and Broadway, with a fashion show by Axiom, a co-operative of the London club scene's new clothes designers including Sade Adu. Spandau were the first UK pop band to perform live at the world-famous Ku Club in Ibiza.

Reflecting the rapidly evolving club scene and Soho's hippest new nightspot, Le Beat Route on Greek Street, the band changed musical directions again, releasing the funk single "Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", which was a No.3 hit in the UK charts and reached No.17 in the US on Billboard magazine's Disco Top 100 in 1981. The song was championed by DJ Frankie Crocker on WBLS.

Diamond
The follow-up album, Diamond, also produced by Burgess, was released in 1982. This album was certified Gold by the BPI. The band had Burgess remix every single from both albums for inclusion on each single's B-side and for 12-inch club releases. These mixes were later released as a boxed set. However, the second single from Diamond was "Paint Me Down", which broke their run of top 20 hits by stalling at No.30. The third single, "She Loved Like Diamond", failed to make the UK Top 40 at all.

Trevor Horn remixed the track "Instinction", which was released as the fourth single from the album. Backed with a special dance remix of "Chant No. 1" on the 12-inch single version, the release was very well received. It returned the band to the UK Top 10 after the poor chart performance of their previous two singles.

1983–1989: International success

True
The band released their third album, True, in March 1983. Produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, the album featured a slicker pop sound and was recorded at Compass Point in the Bahamas. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the band. The title track gave the band their first UK No.1 single. It was a multi-format hit in the US, reaching No.1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and US Cash Box and also entering the US R&B charts.  The band played four sell-out shows at The Wilton and The Palace, Los Angeles, in December 1983. The song was also a No.1 in Ireland and Canada and Top 5 in the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. It won a BMI award as one of the most played songs in history when it passed four million airplays in the United States, the equivalent of 22 years' continuous play.

The follow-up single, "Gold", reached No.2 in the UK and Top 5 in Belgium, Ireland and Spain. The album topped the charts internationally, spent 64 consecutive weeks in the Top 100 albums chart and reached No.19 on the US Billboard 200. The singles "Gold" and "Communication" peaked at No.29 and No.59 in the US Billboard Hot 100. On their UK tour they were the first rock band to play Sadler's Wells and the Royal Festival Hall.

Parade and Live Aid period
The follow-up album, Parade, was released in June 1984, and its singles were again big successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania and Canada. The album's opening song, "Only When You Leave", became the band's last American hit. The band's first Top 10 single in Italy was "I'll Fly For You", a success they repeated later with the singles "Fight For Ourselves" and "Through the Barricades." At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid charity single alongside chart rivals Duran Duran, Culture Club and Wham! and in 1985 performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid to a global audience estimated at 1.9 billion. The "Spandau Ballet World Parade 84–85" was the group's biggest tour to date, spanning Europe, America, the Far East and, for the first time, Australia and New Zealand. Their UK tour ended with six record-breaking nights at Wembley Arena. During the second show at LA's Universal Amphitheatre, Steve Norman tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and the rest of the tour was cancelled. This also resulted in the cancellation of a proposed summer tour of Spain and Italy and a planned six-week tour of the United States supporting The Power Station.

During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation The Singles Collection, which kept the focus on the band between studio albums and celebrated its five years of success. However, the album was released by Chrysalis Records without the band's approval and the band instigated legal action against the label.

Through the Barricades
After a bitter court case with Chrysalis, Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records for £1.5 million in 1986 and released their fifth studio album, Through the Barricades. With producer Gary Langan, the band moved away from their pop and soul influences to create a stadium rock sound. A dispute between Our Price Records and Sony over trading arrangements resulted in the Our Price chain and its chart return shops refusing to stock any CBS singles, which affected the record sales of their first single release, "Fight For Ourselves." Though it peaked at 15 in the UK, it was a Top 10 hit in Italy and the Netherlands. The title track, songwriter Gary Kemp and singer Tony Hadley's personal favourite, inspired by the murder of a friend, Thomas 'Kidso' Reilly, in Belfast by a British soldier, reached the Top 10 in the UK and in Europe, as did the album.

This was followed in 1986/87 by the band's largest European concert tour to date "Through the Barricades – Across The Borders", with six record-breaking nights at the Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam, another six nights at London's Wembley Arena, 80,000 at Casa de Campo in Madrid and 50,000 at an open-air concert in Treviso. Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp performed "Through the Barricades" for the Prince's Trust at Wembley Arena with the 'house band' of Eric Clapton, Midge Ure and Phil Collins and "With A Little Help From My Friends" with George Harrison and Ringo Starr. In 1988, the band played for the King of Spain in front of the Royal Palace in Barcelona, on the same bill as Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, to launch the campaign for the 1992 Olympics.

Heart Like a Sky
After a hiatus from recording, the band released their next album, Heart Like a Sky, initially titled Home, in September 1989. For the first time, new working methods were employed, as Gary Kemp demoed his new songs programming the drums, keyboards and bass on a porta-studio with Toby Chapman, Spandau's session keyboard player, rather than rehearsing with the band. The album and its singles were not successful in the UK and the album was not released in the United States. Nevertheless, the band continued to have success in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, where the singles "Raw" and "Be Free with Your Love" entered the Top 40.  The album included "Motivator", the first song written by Steve Norman for the band since The Makers.

1990–1999: Break-up and solo projects
On Tuesday 6 March 1990, the band played the final date of their 10th anniversary tour at Edinburgh Playhouse before taking a break to pursue other acting and musical solo projects.

Gary and Martin Kemp took the leading roles as notorious East End gangster twins Ronald and Reginald Kray in The Krays which premiered in London in April 1990. The film won two Evening Standard British Film Awards for Best Film and Most Promising Newcomer (writer Philip Ridley). Tony Hadley recorded his first solo album in Los Angeles produced by Ron Nevison. Steve Norman moved to Ibiza to collaborate on chilled out Balearic records with local producers. John Keeble continued as drummer with Tony Hadley and formed his own band, 69 Daze, with former Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist Neal X, followed by 99 shows across Europe with The Herbs and Pacific with guitarist John McGeoch.

Gary Kemp enjoyed further acting success, moving to Hollywood with actor wife Sadie Frost, to film The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner and Killing Zoe, directed by Academy Award winner Roger Avary, produced by Quentin Tarantino. In 1995 Gary released his solo album, Little Bruises.

Martin Kemp also appeared in films and TV series in Los Angeles such as The Outer Limits, Murder Between Friends, Highlander: The Series and Sugar Town which also starred John Taylor from Duran Duran.

In the 1990s, the band split up after a disagreement about royalties. Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful court case against Gary Kemp for a share of Kemp's songwriting royalties from his work with Spandau Ballet. Although they vowed to appeal the verdict, they later decided against this. The three non-Kemp members then continued to tour as a trio, but they had to sell their shares in Spandau Ballet's company to Gary Kemp to pay off legal debts. Because the company owned the rights to the name of Spandau Ballet, the trio had to tour under the moniker "Hadley, Norman and Keeble, ex-Spandau Ballet".

After successful surgery for the removal of two brain tumours in the mid-Nineties, Martin Kemp joined EastEnders in 1998 as one of the British soap's most popular bad boy characters, Steve Owen, winning Most Popular Actor at the 2000 National Television Awards and numerous Best Actor and Villain of the Year awards for the British Soap Awards, Inside Soap Awards and TV Quick Awards. He left EastEnders in 2002 for a golden handcuff deal with ITV drama and wrote his best-selling autobiography, True. He also wrote and directed his first film, Martin Kemp's Stalker.

Gary Kemp wrote songs with Paul Stratham, who had written songs for Dido, continued acting on stage, in film and in television, and wrote music and additional lyrics with Guy Pratt for Bedbug at the National Theatre in 2004 and A Terrible Beauty, with Guy Pratt and Shane Connaughton. He continued acting on stage, in film and on television. He played Serge in the West End production of Art in 2001. Films included Dog Eat Dog and American Daylight and TV shows Murder in Mind and Casualty.

Steve Norman formed chilled lounge band Cloudfish with Rafa Peletey and Shelley Preston in 2001. Tony Hadley released three studio albums. He played Billy Flynn in the West End production of Chicago and won the ITV reality show, Reborn in the USA in 2003 singing "Through the Barricades" to beat Michelle Gayle in the final. He appeared as a guest vocalist on the Alan Parsons album The Time Machine, performing lead vocals on the song "Out of the Blue".

2009–2019: Reunion

In early 2009, the official Spandau Ballet website encouraged fans to sign up "for an exciting announcement", fuelling rumours that a reunion was imminent. Jonathan Ross mentioned during his BBC Radio 2 programme on 21 March 2009, that the band were re-forming and that he had been invited to the reunion party.

The band confirmed the rumours at a press conference on 25 March 2009, on board HMS Belfast in London, a return to the venue of one of their first gigs to announce their comeback tour. They were introduced by friend and broadcaster Robert Elms after a Billy's and Blitz era DJ set by Rusty Egan. John Keeble and Gary Kemp revealed current musical influences as The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, MGMT and Florence and the Machine.

The band began a world tour in October 2009, starting with eight dates across Ireland and the UK, the first of which was in Dublin on 13 October 2009. The tickets for the UK and Ireland shows went on pre-sale on the official Spandau Ballet website on 25 March 2009. They went on general release on 27 March 2009. For the general release tickets, the London O2 arena tickets sold out within 20 minutes and an extra two dates were added there because of demand. The band also announced an extra date in Birmingham and added Liverpool to the tour. Members gave their "first public performance and interview anywhere in the world for 19 years" on the BBC television show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 24 April 2009 performing "Chant No.1" with the original Beggar & Co and "Gold."

On 19 October 2009, the group released a new album, Once More, which featured reworked semi-acoustic versions of 11 Spandau favourites and two new songs, the title track, written by Gary Kemp and Steve Norman, and Love Is All, the first Spandau song to be written by Tony Hadley. The album went Gold in Italy and Silver in the UK. Virgin Media honoured Spandau Ballet as the Best Comeback of 2009 in the Virgin Media Awards.

Spandau Ballet went on tour in Australia during April 2010 with Tears For Fears as part of a world tour. After a headline set at the Isle of Wight Festival on the same bill as Paul McCartney, The Strokes, Jay-Z and Pink, the group played their last UK show of the Reformation Tour at Newmarket Racecourse on 25 June 2010.

In 2014, all five played live again with an anthology world tour to promote a critically acclaimed feature-length archive-only documentary of the band's story and the pop cultural history of the Eighties, Soul Boys of the Western World. It world premiered at South By Southwest with Spandau also playing as part of the music festival, their first public appearance in North America since 1985. The band played five numbers for the film's European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. There were gala screenings in Sydney, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Auckland and Hamburg. The film had a UK cinema release. It was directed by George Hencken, produced by Steve Dagger and Scott Milaney with archive producer Kate Griffiths and included never-before-seen footage of the band playing and being interviewed at NYC's Underground club in March 1981.

It was confirmed on 31 July 2014, that Spandau Ballet were working on new material in the studio with Trevor Horn. In the UK, the band appeared in an ITV show, Spandau Ballet – True Gold, in which they performed several hits and were interviewed by Christine Bleakley in front of a studio audience. The band performed their 1980s hit single "True" and a new song called "This is the Love" on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 11 November 2014. It was their US late-night TV debut and their first US TV appearance since 1985 when they played on Soul Train. They were there to promote their new greatest hits collection called The Story – The Very Best of Spandau Ballet, which also contained three new songs. The album reached the UK Top 10. Both "Steal" and "This Is The Love" appeared on the US Adult Contemporary chart.

The band embarked on another world tour in 2015. In January 2015, they appeared on The Today Show, performing "True". They also appeared on The Talk on 27 July 2015 to perform "True".

On 3 July 2017, Tony Hadley announced on Twitter that due to circumstances beyond his control, he was no longer a member of the band. The rest of the band released their own statement explaining that Hadley had made it clear to them in September 2016 that he did not want to work with the band any more and that they had now reached the decision "to move on as a band."

On 6 June 2018, after a lengthy audition process Spandau Ballet revealed their new lead singer, Ross William Wild, who had previously performed with Martin Kemp in the West End musical Million Dollar Quartet. The band played live at Subterania Club in West London, a venue they had last played 40 years earlier in 1978 as Gentry when it was called Acklam Hall. Their first song as the new line-up was "Through the Barricades". Wild said: "If it wasn't for Spandau so much stuff wouldn't have happened. They are pioneers."

Spandau Ballet finished the year showcasing Wild with five live gigs abroad (Milan, Rome, Padova, Utrecht, Tilburg) concluding with another at the Eventim Apollo in London on 29 October, and attracted favourable reviews.
 
On 16 October 2018, Hadley played the London Palladium with The Tony Hadley Band.

Within five months cracks were appearing in Spandau's new line-up. In March 2019, Wild announced that he had joined a new band called Mercutio, saying: "I can't wait around for Spandau! Unfortunately Gary [Kemp] has commitments, so we're waiting him to finish until we crack on." One month later Gary Kemp, touring the US with Nick Mason's band Saucerful of Secrets, said in an interview: "There are no plans for Spandau going into 2020." He said he struggled to imagine Spandau Ballet without Tony Hadley, adding: "I still think that's the ultimate goal". Then on 23 May 2019, Wild tweeted at 6:15am: "I have formally quit the band @SpandauBallet to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio." By 10:30am Martin Kemp was on ITV's This Morning confirming that Spandau would not be touring "until Tony [Hadley] comes back".

The next day Spandau thanked Wild via Twitter for "his brilliant performances with them last year and wish him every success with his band, Mercutio". Within the next few days Wild explained further: "I'd put my whole life on hold and was sick of waiting around for them to make up their minds. I told the boys I was quitting and then never heard back from them." The band's sax player Steve Norman also said: "I was neither involved in nor informed of any discussions or decision-making regarding the future of my band, least of all Ross's position in it."

In popular culture

The song "True" has been sampled in many songs including Queen Pen's 1998 hit "It's True" and Nelly's "'N' Dey Say" in 2004. It was a No.1 US Billboard Hot 100 hit for PM Dawn in 1991 as "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" and a Top 10 single as "You" on the US Billboard Hot 100 for R&B artist Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne in 2006. It has also been covered by The Black Eyed Peas, Rui da Silva and Paul Anka and other artists.

"True" is featured in the movies Pixels, Sausage Party, Sixteen Candles, Charlie's Angels, Crazy Stupid Love, Hot Tub Time Machine, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, 50 First Dates  and The Wedding Singer sung by Steve Buscemi's character. It has featured on TV shows like Ashes to Ashes.

"To Cut A Long Story Short" was sampled by Shakka on his 2015 single, "Say Nada".

"Gold" has been used for the Olympics and numerous other sporting events worldwide. The songs have featured in TV shows The Simpsons, Spin City, Ugly Betty, Family Guy, Master of None, Suits, My Mad Fat Diary, Misfits, Skins, Gilmore Girls, Only Fools and Horses, The Office, Spaced, Grange Hill and many others.

Spandau Ballet songs have also been used successfully in many advertising campaigns on TV, radio, in-store and internet worldwide for Fernet, Chevy Malibu, Citroen, Flora, Alldays, Virgin, Taco Bell, Halifax, La Caixa & Paddy Power, BT, and many more.

Actor Edward Norton appeared on the ABC sitcom Modern Family as Izzy LaFontaine, a fictional bass player/backup vocalist for Spandau Ballet ("between Richard Miller and Martin Kemp"), in the episode "Great Expectations".

The song "Gold" appears in Rockstar Games' 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the WAVE 103 Station, which plays New Wave and Synthpop songs. DJ Paul Oakenfold created a special 12-inch remix of "Gold" for the 2012 Olympics.

Members
 John Keeble – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1979–1990, 2009–2019)
 Gary Kemp – lead guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals (1979–1990, 2009–2019)
 Martin Kemp – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals (1979–1990, 2009–2019)
 Steve Norman – saxophones, wind synthesizer, guitar, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals (1979–1990, 2009–2019)
 Tony Hadley – lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (1979–1990, 2009–2017)
 Ross William Wild – lead vocals (2018–2019)

Discography

Journeys to Glory (1981)
Diamond (1982)
True (1983)
Parade (1984)
Through the Barricades (1986)
Heart Like a Sky (1989)
Once More (2009)

Awards and nominations

Q Awards
The Q Awards are hosted annually by the music magazine Q. Spandau Ballet has received one award.

|-
| 2009
| Spandau Ballet
| The Q Idol
|

BRIT Awards
The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. Spandau Ballet has received one award from one nomination.

|-
| 1984
| Spandau Ballet
| The Sony Award For Technical Excellence
|

Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards are awards for songwriting and composing, presented annually in London.

|-
| 2012
| Gary Kemp
| Outstanding Song Collection
|

See also
List of best-selling music artists

Literature

References

External links

Brit Award winners
British soul musical groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
Chrysalis Records artists
English new wave musical groups
English pop music groups
Epic Records artists
Mercury Records artists
Musical groups disestablished in 1990
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups reestablished in 2009
Musical groups disestablished in 2019
Musical groups from London
Parlophone artists
Sophisti-pop musical groups
Fans of Kate describe themselves as a "haircut band from London", and they toured the UK between May 2004 and December 2005. They played guitar and piano driven pop-rock and cited influences such as Blur, Radiohead, Grandaddy and Broken Social Scene.

History

Formation 
The band first started to play music together at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College in High Wycombe circa 2003. Jamie and Steve (the guitarists) started to jam together and formed the band Reagan with some friends. Reagan produced an EP and shared the stage with an up-and-coming Bloc Party in December 2003.  Reagan's vocalist, Jez Dixon got married not long after and the band decided to take some time off. After getting back together the band discovered their new songs were taking them in a different direction. This new direction would become Fans of Kate.

Band name
The name Fans of Kate came about during a drive through Queen's Park in London in summer 2004 after a game of pitch and putt. The band were on their way to a gig and on the lookout for a new name. They had decided they wanted to be Fans of something, but didn't know what. Steve Hurdle (guitarist) decided "the next fit girl we saw, we'd be fans of her". The next young lady to walk past the van was called Kate.

Releases

The band released 1,500 numbered copies of their debut EP Fans Of Kate EP on Headwrecker Records on 15 November 2004. This was followed up by the single "I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands" which the band worked on alongside producer Dan Swift (Snow Patrol, The Cooper Temple Clause). "I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands" was released initially as a one track promo on Headwrecker in March 2005, and then officially as a three track single on Moshi Moshi Records on 11 April 2005. Both the EP and the single were available from HMV's online store for a short time.

Touring
Fans of Kate had three official tours and played around 150 gigs in venues such as Barfly and Club NME. They supported Electric Six in February 2005 and Dogs Die in Hot Cars in May 2005. An unofficial fourth tour with less frequent gigs interspersed the rest of the year.

Tour dates

Split
On 13 October 2005, Jamie Brown revealed on his blog that he had left the band:

So here I am, this is it, this is me, I am alone now. Jamie and FOK had a meeting and it was decided by both parties about three months previous that I didn't belong there, I just cant do the new direction that is happening, I used to love playing those songs but I just cant do it in the way its going, I cant. We are all still friends an all, it's incredibly amicable but the band I loved being in is gone.

This was confirmed on the band's website on 7 November. Fans of Kate continued to gig until December 2005 after which they appeared to go on hiatus. In January 2006, a new band was revealed called New Adventures. This band features the original Fans of Kate lineup minus Jamie, plus a new member, Helen Fisher, who sings and plays keys.

Discography

Singles and EPs
Fans of Kate EP (Headwrecker Records 2004)
"Tape 23"
"A Pattern"
"Keep Warm (The Doo Doo Song)"
"I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands" (Moshi Moshi Records 2004)
"I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands"
"Tape 23" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
"A Brief Guide to Coward Rock" (demo)

References

External links
 Official Fans of Kate website
 Streaming videos of Fans of Kate performing at the eighth Tiscali showcase in March 2005

English indie rock groups
Musical groups from London
Moshi Moshi Records artists Beyond Fear is an American heavy metal band started in March, 2005 by Tim "Ripper" Owens after he left Judas Priest as a side-project, apart from his former work with Iced Earth.

History
The band was started largely to satisfy Owens' desire to be involved in the song writing on a heavy metal album, something denied to him on most of his previous musical ventures. Writing duties are split between Owens and guitarist John Comprix. A demo was recorded after a month, and the debut album was released about a year later. Later on the same year as their debut album was released guitarist Dwayne Bihary quit the band, with the reasons being kept private.

Owens commented on Beyond Fear's next studio album in an interview with Metal Asylum: "It will always be classic metal but I think a lot of the later songs that we recorded for the debut, like “Scream Machine”, became favorites for fans. And lyrics to a song like that were not so serious and more cliché metal lyrics, you know about a metal machine (laughs), so I think some of the new songs may go in that direction. We are still gonna have songs like “Save Me” but I think it will probably have some more aggression. We have been writing now, John Comprix and I, for a while, I have a lot of ideas and melodies in my head that I really can’t use anywhere else (laughs). Its nice I get to use em for Beyond Fear. I mean I have been a writer for many years but I don’t get to do it as much as I would like and Iced Earth just keeps me so busy but its nice that every once and [sic] a while I get to do my thing with Beyond Fear. And we get to take our time with this band and practice together. I mean that’s what I want to hear with all my influences on one album that’s what I like to do with Fear."

Band members 
 Tim "Ripper" Owens - vocals (2005–present)
 John Comprix - rhythm & lead guitar (2005–present)
 Dennis Hayes - bass (2005–present)
 Eric Elkins - drums (2005–present)

Former members 
 Dwayne Bihary - rhythm guitar (2005–2006)

Discography 
 Beyond Fear (2006)

See also
 Iced Earth
 Judas Priest
 Seven Witches
 Winter's Bane
 Yngwie Malmsteen

References

External links
 Homepage
 Official Brazilian Site
 Tim "Ripper" Owens interviewed by Highwire Daze (2006)

Musical groups established in 2005
Heavy metal musical groups from Ohio
American thrash metal musical groups
American power metal musical groups