Gary Kemp

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Birthday:

16 October 1959, Islington, London, England, UK

Birth Name:

Gary James Kemp

Height:

183 cm

Gary Kemp was born in Islington, London in October 1959. On his 10th birthday, he got his first guitar from his parents. In the 70s, he and his younger brother, Martin Kemp, went to learn drama at Anna Scher's acting school. Then, in 1978, Gary Kemp formed "The Makers". After Richard Miller left, his brother replaced him on bass. That's when Gary changed the name to Spandau Ballet. Spandau's break came in March 1980 when they were filmed for a documentary on ITV. When the documentary was broadcast, the record companies were bursting out of their ears. They chose to sign to Chrysalis, as they were offered the most money. For 10 years, they had hits like "To Cut a Long Story Short" (1980), "Chant No. 1 (I don't need this pressure on)" (1981), "True" (1983), "Gold" (1983), "Only When You Leave" (1984) and "Through the Barricades" (1986). After Spandau Ballet completed a tour in 1987, Gary and Martin decided to go into acting once again. They auditioned for the part in The Krays (1990) and, in 1989, they played "Ronald" and "Reggie". Soon afterwards this, Spandau Ballet would split. During the '90s, Gary continued to act, most notably playing a part in The Bodyguard (1992). In 1999, Gary was involved in a court battle over £1,000,000 royalties against John Keeble, Steve Norman and Tony Hadley, his 3 other bandmates. Gary won the case. However, in March 2009, all 5 members of Spandau Ballet called a truce, and they announced on the HMS Belfast in London that they would be reuniting for a world tour later in the year. Show less «

Spandau Ballet is a brand name. Part of me never wants to do it again. Part of me is fascinated of what it would be like. Because we spent t...Show more »

Spandau Ballet is a brand name. Part of me never wants to do it again. Part of me is fascinated of what it would be like. Because we spent the most amazing time together. Show less «

I can't get away from 'True'. It's been played 3 million times on American radio.

I think that Will Young is this generation's Des O'Connor or Max Bygraves. Where is the sex, drama and outrage in music anymore?

The thought of going on tour with people like Toyah Willcox is just appalling. I'm certainly not tempted.

Kevin Costner told me that "True" was his and his wife's song. I'm not sure if that's a good thing because they split up soon after.

I like a band with sex and attitude. Coldplay and Travis do nothing for me.

Songwriting helps me sort out my personal problems. With acting, you're just a tool for someone's ideas.

Punk was sort of an angry stance against things that had happened just before, against the pop of glam rock, against progressive rock. Music...Show more »

Punk was sort of an angry stance against things that had happened just before, against the pop of glam rock, against progressive rock. Music had become very staid and it was about the playing and people obsessed. Eric Clapton was God and we needed an enema within the art form, and punk did do that. Show less «

[on "True"] I wanted to write a soul song. We'd come out of that electronic, Blitz, dance movement. I wanted to get back into writing songs ...Show more »

[on "True"] I wanted to write a soul song. We'd come out of that electronic, Blitz, dance movement. I wanted to get back into writing songs that I loved, which was black American soul songs. I wanted to write an Al Green song. Marvin Gaye obviously was a hero and I wanted to mention him in the song. Show less «

Live Aid (1985), coming straight after the Miners' Strike and certainly the sense that the government weren't really listening to the people...Show more »

Live Aid (1985), coming straight after the Miners' Strike and certainly the sense that the government weren't really listening to the people at that point, I think it was a sense of democracy that people got from Live Aid (1985). That they could do something above and beyond what the government wanted to do, just with a postal order. Show less «

I remember Paul Weller saying to me, "Why aren't you writing a song about the miners?" I said, "Why aren't you, Paul?"

What we did have then is no Internet, a youth culture that had to find itself on the streets and one that was rather brave in the way it pre...Show more »

What we did have then is no Internet, a youth culture that had to find itself on the streets and one that was rather brave in the way it presented itself as well because we were sort of dressing up on a shoestring. I think we liked the theatre of youth culture and pop culture that we'd fallen in love with like Bowie [David Bowie] and people like that. Show less «

We owe a lot to Iggy [Iggy Pop]. When we first walked into those Billy's and Blitz clubs, that was basically called Bowie [David Bowie] nigh...Show more »

We owe a lot to Iggy [Iggy Pop]. When we first walked into those Billy's and Blitz clubs, that was basically called Bowie [David Bowie] night. And I think "Nightclubbing" was being played, that was one of the first tracks we heard in there. Everything from Bowie to Lou Reed to Iggy to Kraftwerk, that was the soundtrack that we were inspired by in 1979 when we formed Spandau Ballet. Show less «