As the lead singer of Spandau Ballet, Hadley became known for his suave image, as well as his powerful voice, which has been described by AllMusic as a "dramatic warble". In his book on the New Romantics, music journalist and author Dave Rimmer described his voice as "like a foghorn—if a foghorn could be imagined trying to emulate both and ". His Spandau Ballet bandmate Steve Norman described him as having "a massive vocal range". According to Tim Rice, Hadley had a "strong and expressive voice that few of his contemporaries came near to matching".